a note of interrogation. This was meant as an in- | and then looked inquisitively at Julian once more as quiry whether he was going to a distance. Julian, if to say, Goes he with you?" Peveril shook his in reply, extended his arm more than half, to inti- head, and, somewhat, wearied by these interrogatomate that the distance was considerable. Fenella ries, smiled, and made an effort to pass. Fenella looked grave, shook her head, and pointed to the frowned, struck the end of her ebony rod perpendicuCountess's window, which was visible from the spot larly on the ground, and again shook her head, as if where they stood. Peveril smiled, and nodded, to opposing his departure. But finding that Julian perintimate there was no danger in quitting her mistress severed in his purpose, she suddenly assumed anfor a short space. The little maiden next touched other and a milder mood, held him by the skirt of an eagle's feather which she wore in her hair, a sign his cloak with one hand, and raised the other in an which she usually employed to designate the Earl, imploring attitude, whilst every feature of her lively judgment. Among this number was a gentleman, my near neighwere shut. This obliging him to think he had seen a spirit, sent bour, who affirmed with the most solemn asseverations, that be him home very much terrified; but the next day, relating his ading of my opinion, and entirely averse to the belief that any such venture to some people who lived in the Castle, and describing, beings were permitted to wander for the purposes related of them, as near as he could, the garb and stature of the apparition, they he had been at last convinced by the appearance of several little told him it was that of the woman above mentioned, who had figures playing and leaping over some stones in a field, whom at been frequently seen, by the soldiers on guard, to pass in and out a few yards' distance he imagined were school-boys, and intend- of the gates, as well as to walk through the rooms, though there ed, when he came near enough, to reprimand for being absent was no visible means to enter. Though so familiar to the eye, from their exercises at that time of the day, it being then, he no person has yet, however, had the courage to speak to it, and, said, between three and four of the clock; but when he ap- as they say a spirit has no power to reveal its mind without be proached, as near as he could guess, within twenty paces, they ing conjured to do so in a proper manner, the reason of its being all immediately disappeared, though he had never taken his eye permitted to wander is unknown. off them from the first moment he beheld them; nor was there any place where they could so suddenly retreat, it being an open field without hedge or bush, and, as I said before, broad day. "Another instance, which might serve to strengthen the credit of the other, was told me by a person who had the reputation of the utmost integrity. This man being desirous of disposing of a horse he had at that time no great occasion for, and riding him to market for that purpose, was accosted, in passing over the mountains, by a little man in a plain dress, who asked him if he would sell his horse. "Tis the design I am going on, replied the person who told me the story. On which the other desired to know the price. Eight pounds, said he, No, resumed the purcha-world, for nothing human ever came up to it. The horse was no ser, I will give no more than seven; which if you will take, here is your money. The owner, thinking he had bid pretty fair, agreed with him; and the money being told out, the one dis mounted, and the other got on the back of the horse, which he had no sooner done, than both beast and rider sunk into the earth immediately, leaving the person who had made the bargain in the utmost terror and consternation. As soon as he had a little recovered himself, he went directly to the parson of the parish, and related what had passed, desiring he would give his opinion whether he ought to make use of the money he had received or not. To which he replied, that as he had made a fair bargain, and no way circumvented, nor endeavoured to circumvent, the buyer, he saw no reason to believe, in case it was an evil spirit, it could have any power over him. On this assurance, he went home well satisfied, and nothing afterwards happened to give him any disquiet concerning this affair. "A second account of the same nature I had from a clergyman, and a person of more sanctity than the generality of his function in this island. It was his custom to pass some hours every evening in a field near his house, indulging meditation, and calling himself to an account for the transactions of the past day. As he was in this place one night, more than ordinarily wrapt in contemplation, he wandered, without thinking where he was, a considerable way farther than it was usual for him to do; and, as he told me, he knew not how far the deep musing he was in might have carried him, if it had not been suddenly interrupted by a noise, which, at first, he took to be the distant bellowing of a bull; but as he listened more heedfully to it, found there was something more terrible in the sound than could proceed from that creature. He confessed to me, that he was no less affrighted than surprised, especially, when the noise coming still nearer, he imagined, whatever it was that it proceeded from, it must pass him. He had, however, presence enough of mind to place him self with his back to a hedge, where he fell on his knees, and began to pray to God, with all the vehemence so dreadful an occasion required. He had not been long in that position, before he beheld something in the form of a bull, but infinitely larger than ever he had seen in England, much less in Man, where the cattle are very small in general. The eyes, he said, seemed to shoot forth flames, and the running of it was with such a force, that the ground shook under it as an earthquake. It made directly to ward a little cottage, and thereafter most horribly disappeared. The moon being then at the full, and shining in her utmost splendour, all these passages were visible to our amazed divine, who, having finished his ejaculation, and given thanks to God for his preservation, went to the cottage, the owner of which, they told him, was that moment dead. The good old gentleman was loath to pass a censure which might be judged an uncharitable one; but the deceased having the character of a very ill liver, most people who heard the story, were apt to imagine this terrible ap-ed by these means of my return, and expected me the very hou pantion came to attend his last moments. "A mighty bustle they also make of an apparition, which, they say, haunts Castle Russin, in the form of a woman, who was some years since executed for the murder of her child. I have heard not only persons who have been confined there for debt, but also the soldiers of the garrison, affirm they have seen it various times; but what I took most notice of, was the report of a gentleman, of whose good understanding, as well as veracity, I have a very great opinion. He told me, that happening to be abroad late one night, and catched in an excessive storm of wind and rain, he saw a woman stand before the castle gate, where, being not the least shelter, it something surprised him that any body, much less one of that sex, should not rather run to some little porch, or shed, of which there are several in Castle Town, than choose to stand still, exposed and alone, to such a dreadful tempest. His curiosity exciting him to draw nearer, that he might discover who it was that seemed so little to regard the fury of the elements, he perceived she retreated on his approach, and at last, he thought, went into the Castle, though the gates "Another story of the like nature I have heard concerning an apparition, which has frequently been seen on a wild common near Kirk Jarmyn mountains, which, they say, assumes the shape of a wolf, and fills the air with most terrible howlings. But having run on so far in the account of supernatural appearances, I cannot forget what was told me by an English gentleman, and my particular friend. He was about passing over Douglas Bridge before it was broken down, but the tide being high, he was obliged to take the river, having an excellent horse under him, and one accustomed to swim. As he was in the middle of it, he heard, or imagined he heard, the finest symphony, I will not say in the less sensible of the harmony than himself, and kept in an immovable posture all the time it lasted; which, he said, could not be less than three quarters of an hour, according to the most exact calculation he could make, when he arrived at the end of his little journey, and found how long he had been coming. He, who before laughed at all the stories told of fairies, now became a convert, and believed as much as ever a Manksman of them all. As to circles in the grass, and the impression of small feet among the snow, I cannot deny but I have seen them frequently, and once thought I heard a whistle, as though in my car, when nobody that could make it was near me. For my part, I shall not pretend to determine if such appearances have any reality, or are only the effect of the imagination; but as I had much rather give credit to them, than be convinced by ocular demonstration, I shall leave the point to be discussed by those who have made it more their study, and only say, that whatever belief we ought to give to some accounts of this kind, there are others, and those much more numerous, which merit only to be laughed at-it not being at all consonant to reason, or the idea religion gives us of the fallen angels, to suppose spirits, so eminent in wisdom and knowledge, as to be exceeded by nothing but their Creator, should visit the earth for such trifling purposes as to throw bottles and glasses about a room, and a thousand other as ridiculous gambols mentioned in those voluminous treatises of apparitions. "The natives of this island tell you also, that before any person dies, the procession of the funeral is acted by a sort of beings, which for that end render themselves visible. I know several that have offered to make oath, that as they have been passing the road, one of these funerals has come behind them, and even laid the bier on their shoulders, as though to assist the bearers. One person, who assured me he had been served so, told me that the flesh of his shoulder had been very much bruised, and was black for many weeks after. There are few or none of them who pretend not to have seen or heard these imaginary obsequies, (for I must not omit that they sing psalms in the same manner as those do who accompany the corpse of a dead friend.) which so little differ from real ones, that they are not to be known till both coffin and mourners are seen to vanish at the church doors. These they take to be a sort of friendly demons, and their business, they say, is to warn people of what is to befall them; accordingly, they give notice of any stranger's approach, by the trampling of horses at the gate of the house where they are to arrive. As dif ficult as I found it to bring myself to give any faith to this, I have frequently been very much surprised, when, on visiting a friend, I have found the table ready spread, and every thing in order to receive me, and been told by the person to whom I went, that he had knowledge of my coming, or some other guest, by these goodnatured intelligencers; nay, when obliged to be absent some time from home, my own servants have assured me they were inform I came, though perhaps it was some days before I hoped it my self at my going abroad. That this is fact, I am positively con vinced by many proofs; but how or wherefore it should be so has frequently given me much matter of reflection, yet left me in the same uncertainty as before. Here, therefore, I will quit the subject, and proceed to things much easier to be accounted for." WALDRON'S Description of the Isle of Man, folio, 1731, p. 125. This long quotation is extremely curious, as containing an account of those very superstitions in the Isle of Man, which are frequently collected both in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland, and which have employed the attention of Mr Crofton Croker, and of the author of the Fairy Mythology. The superstitions are in every respect so like each other, that they may be referred to one common source; unless we conclude that they are natural to the human mind, and, like the common orders of ve getables, which naturally spring up in every climate, these natu rally arise in every bosom; as the best philologists are of opinion, that fragments of an original speech are to be discovered in almost all languages in the globe. countenance was composed into the like expression of supplication; and the fire of her large dark eyes, which appear in general so keen and piercing as almost to over-animate the little sphere to which they belonged, seemed quenched, for the moment, in the large drops which hung on her long eyelashes, but withour falling. Julian Peveril was far from being void of sympathy towards the poor girl, whose motives in opposing his departure appeared to be her affectionate apprehension for her mistress's safety. He endeavoured to reassure her by smiles, and, at the same time, by such signs as he could devise, to intimate that there was no danger, and that he would return presently; and having succeeded in extricating his cloak from her grasp, and in passing her on the stair, he began to descend the steps as speedily as he could, in order to avoid farther importunity. But with activity much greater than his, the dumb maiden hastened to intercept him, and succeeded by throwing herself, at the imminent risk of life and limb, a second time into the pass which he was descending, so as to interrupt his purpose. In order to achieve this, she was obliged to let herself drop a considerable height from the wall of a small flanking battery, where two patereroes were placed to scour the pass, in case any enemy could have mounted so high. Julian had scarce time to shudder at her purpose, as he beheld her about to spring from the parapet, ere, like a thing of gossamer, she stood light and uninjured on the rocky platform below. He endeavoured, by the gravity of his look and gesture, to make her understand how much he blamed her rashness; but the reproof, though obviously quite intelligible, was entirely thrown away. A hasty wave of her hand intimated how she contemned the danger and the remonstrance; while at the same time she instantly resumed, with more eagerness than before, the earnest and impressive gestures by which she endeavoured to detain him in the fortress. Julian was somewhat staggered by her pertinacity. "Is it possible," he thought, "that any danger can approach the Countess, of which this poor maiden has, by the extreme acuteness of her observation, obtained knowledge which has escaped others?" He signed to Fenella hastily to give him the tablets and the pencil which she usually carried with her, and wrote on them the question, "Is there danger near to your mistress, that you thus stop me?" There is danger around the Countess," was the answer instantly written down; "but there is much more in your own purpose." "How?-what?-what know you of my purpose?" said Julian, forgetting, in his surprise, that the party he addressed, had neither ear to comprehend, nor voice to reply, to uttered language. She had regain ed her book in the meantime, and sketched, with a rapid pencil, on one of the leaves, a scene which she showed to Julian. To his infinite surprise he recognised Goddard Crovan's stone, a remarkable monument, of which she had given the outline with sufficient accuracy; together with a male and female figure, which, though only indicated by a few slight touches of the pencil, bore yet, he thought, some resemblance to himself and Alice Bridgenorth. When he had gazed on the sketch for an instant with surprise, Fenella took the book from his hand, laid her finger upon the drawing, and slowly and sternly shook her head, with a frown which seemed to prohibit the meeting which was there represented. Julian, however, though disconcerted, was in no shape disposed to submit to the authority of his monitress. By whatever means she, who so seldom stirred from the Countess's apartment, had become acquainted with a secret which he thought entirely his own, he esteemed it the more necessary to keep the appointed rendezvous, that he might learn from Alice, if possible, how the secret had transpired. He had also formed the intention of seeking out Bridgenorth; entertaining an idea that a person so reasonable and calm as he had shown himself in their late conference, might be persuaded, when he understood that the Countess was aware of his intrigues, to put an end to her danger and his own, by withdrawing VOL. IV. 2 A from the island. And could he succeed in this point, he should at once, he thought, render a material benefit to the father of his beloved Alice-remove the Earl from his state of anxiety-save the Countess from a second time putting her feudal jurisdiction in opposition to that of the Crown of England-and secure quiet possession of the island to her and her family. With this scheme of mediation in his mind, Peveril determined to rid himself of the opposition of Fenella to his departure, with less ceremony than he had hitherto observed towards her; and suddenly lifting up the damsel in his arms before she was aware of his purpose, he turned about, set her down on the steps above him, and began to descend the pass himself as speedily as possible. It was then that the dumb maiden gave full course to the vehemence of her disposition; and clapping her hands repeatedly, expressed her displeasure in a sound, or rather a shriek, so extremely dissonant, that it resembled more the cry of a wild creature, than any thing which could have been uttered by female organs. Peveril was so astounded at the scream as it rung through the living rocks, that he could not help stopping and looking back in alarm, to satisfy himself that she had not sustained some injury. He saw her, however, perfectly safe, though her face seemed inflamed and distorted with passion. She stamped at him with her foot, shook her clenched hand, and turning her back upon him, without farther adieu, ran up the rude steps as lightly as a kid could have tripped up that rugged ascent, and paused for a moment at the summit of the first flight. Julian could feel nothing but wonder and compassion for the impotent passion of a being so unfortunately circumstanced, cut off, as it were, from the rest of mankind, and incapable of receiving in childhood that moral discipline which teaches us mastery of our wayward passions, ere yet they have attained their meridian strength and violence. He waved his hand to her, in token of amicable farewell; but she only replied by once more menacing him with her little hand clenched; and then ascending the rocky staircase with almost preternatural speed, was soon out of sight. Julian, on his part, gave no farther consideration to her conduct or its motives, but hastening to the village on the mainland, where the stables of the Castle were situated, he again took his palfrey from the stall, and was soon mounted and on his way to the appointed place of rendezvous, much marvelling, as he ambled forward with speed far greater than was promised by the diminutive size of the animal he was mounted on, what could have happened to produce so great a change in Alice's conduct towards him, that in place of enjoining his absence as usual, or recommending his departure from the island, she should now voluntarily invite him to a meeting. Under impression of the various doubts which succeeded each other in his imagination, he sometimes pressed Fairy's sides with his legs; sometimes laid his holly rod lightly on her neck; sometimes incited her by his voice, for the mettled animal needed neither whip nor spur, and achieved the distance betwixt the Castle of Holm-Peel and the stone at Goddard Crovan, at the rate of twelve miles within the hour. The monumental stone, designed to commemorate some feat of an ancient King of Man, which had been long forgotten, was erected on the side of a narrow lonely valley, or rather glen, secluded from observation by the steepness of its banks, upon a projection of which stood the tall, shapeless, solitary rock, frowning, like a shrouded giant, over the brawling of the small rivulet which watered the ravine. CHAPTER XVII. This a love-meeting? See the maiden mourns, And the sad suitor bends his looks on earth. There's more hath pass'd between them than belongs, To Love's sweet sorrows. Old Play. As he approached the monument of Goddard Crovan, Julian cast many an anxious glance to sec 66 whether any object visible beside the huge grey stone | bold wishes I may have formed, and his whole beshould apprize him, whether he was anticipated, at haviour shows the contrary, I know not a man on the appointed place of rendezvous, by her who had earth from whom I have less cause to apprehend any named it. Nor was it long before the flutter of a danger or ill-will." mantle, which the breeze slightly waved, and the motion necessary to replace it upon the wearer's shoulders, made him aware that Alice had already reached their place of meeting. One instant set the palfrey at liberty, with slackened girths and loosened reins, to pick its own way through the dell at will; another placed Julian Peveril by the side of Alice Bridgenorth. That Alice should extend her hand to her lover, as with the ardour of a young greyhound he bounded over the obstacles of the rugged path, was as natural as that Julian, seizing on the hand so kindly stretched out, should devour it with kisses, and, for a moment or two, without reprehension; while the other hand, which should have aided in the liberation of its fellow, served to hide the blushes of the fair owner. But Alice, young as she was, and attached to Julian by such long habits of kindly intimacy, still knew well how to subdue the tendency of her own treacherous affections. "This is not right," she said, extricating her hand from Julian's grasp, this is not right, Julian. If I have been too rash in admitting such a meeting as the present, it is not you that should make me sensible of my folly." Julian Peveril's mind had been early illumined with that touch of romantic fire which deprives passion of selfishness, and confers on it the high and refined tone of generous and disinterested devotion. He let go the hand of Alice with as much respect as he could have paid to that of a princess; and when she seated herself upon a rocky fragment, over which nature had stretched a cushion of moss and lichen, interspersed with wild flowers, backed with a bush of copsewood, he took his place beside her, indeed, but at such distance as to intimate the duty of an attendant, who was there only to hear and to obey. Alice Bridgenorth became more assured as she observed the power which she possessed over her lover; and the self-command which Peveril exhibited, which other damsels in her situation might have judged inconsistent with intensity of passion, she appreciated more justly, as a proof of his respectful and disinterested sincerity. She recovered, in addressing him, the tone of confidence which rather belonged to the scenes of their early acquaintance, than to those which had passed betwixt them since Peveril had disclosed his affection, and thereby had brought restraint upon their intercourse. Julian," she said, "your visit of yesterday-your most ill-timed visit, has distressed me much. It has misled my father-it has endangered you. At all risks, I resolved that you should know this, and blame me not if I have taken a bold and imprudent step in desiring this solitary interview, since you are aware how little poor Deborah is to be trusted." "Can you fear misconstruction from me, Alice?" replied Peveril, warmly; "from me, whom you have thus highly favoured-thus deeply obliged ?" Cease your protestations, Julian," answered the maiden, "they do but make me the more sensible that I have acted over boldly. But I did for the best. I could not see you whom I have known so long-you, who say you regard me with partiality" Say that I regard you with partiality!" interrupted Peveril in his turn. Ah, Alice, what a cold and doubtful phrase you have used to express the most devoted, the most sincere affection!" "Well, then," said Alice, sadly, we will not quarrel about words; but do not again interrupt me. I could not, I say, see you, who, I believe, regard me with sincere though vain and fruitless attachment, rush blindfold into a snare, deceived and seduced by those very feelings towards me." "I understand you not, Alice," said Peveril; "nor can I see any danger to which I am at present exposed. The sentiments which your father has expressed towards me, are of a nature irreconcilable with hostile purposes. If he is not offended with the "My father," said Alice, means well by his country, and well by you; yet I sometimes fear he may rather injure than serve his good cause; and still more do I dread, that in attempting to engage you as an auxiliary, he may forget those ties which ought to bind you, and I am sure which will bind you, to a different line of conduct from his own." You lead me into still deeper darkness, Alice," answered Peveril. "That your father's especial line of politics differs widely from mine, I know well; but how many instances have occurred, even during the bloody scenes of civil warfare, of good and worthy men laying the prejudice of party affections aside, and regarding each other with respect, and even with friendly attachment, without being false to principle on either side?" "It may be so," said Alice; "but such is not the league which my father desires to form with you, and that to which he hopes your misplaced partiality towards his daughter may afford a motive for your forming with him." And what is it," said Peveril, "which I would refuse, with such a prospect before me?" "Treachery and dishonour !" replied Alice; "whatever would render you unworthy of the poor boon at which you aim-ay, were it more worthless than I confess it to be." "Would your father," said Peveril, as he unwillingly received the impression which Alice designed to convey,-" would he, whose views of duty are so strict and severe would he wish to involve me in aught, to which such harsh epithets as treachery and dishonour can be applied with the slightest shadow of truth?" "Do not mistake me, Julian," replied the maiden; "my father is incapable of requesting aught of you that is not to his thinking just and honourable; nay, he conceives that he only claims from you a debt, which is due as a creature to the Creator, and as a man to your fellow-men." So guarded, where can be the danger of our intercourse?" replied Julian. "If he be resolved to require, and I determined to accede to, nothing save what flows from conviction, what have I to fear, Alice? And how is my intercourse with your father dangerous? Believe not so; his speech has already made impression on me in some particulars, and he listened with candour and patience to the objections which I made occasionally. You do Master Bridgenorth less than justice in confounding him with the unreasonable bigots in policy and religion, who can listen to no argument but what favours their own prepossessions." "Julian," replied Alice, it is you who misjudge my father's powers, and his purpose with respect to you, and who overrate your own powers of resistance. I am but a girl, but I have been taught by circumstances to think for myself, and to consider the character of those who are around me. My father's views in ecclesiastical and civil policy, are as dear to him as the life which he cherishes only to advance them. They have been, with little alteration, his companions through life. They brought him at one period into prosperity, and when they suited not the times, he suffered for having held them. They have become not only a part, but the very dearest part, of his existence. If he shows them not to you at first, in the inflexible strength which they have acquired over his mind, do not believe that they are the less powerful. He who desires to make converts must begin by degrees. But that he should sacrifice to an inexperienced young man, whose ruling motive he will term a childish passion, any part of those treasured principles which he has maintained through good repute and bad repute-O, do not dream of such an impossibility! If you meet at all, you must be the wax, he the seal-you must receive-he must bestow an absolute impression." แ That, said Peveril, were unreasonable. I CHAP. XVII.] PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. will frankly avow to you, Alice, that I am not a sworn bigot to the opinions entertained by my father, much as I respect his person. I could wish that our Cavaliers, or whatsoever they are pleased to call themselves, would have some more charity towards those who differ from them in Church and State. But to hope that I would surrender the principles in which I have lived, were to suppose me capable of deserting my benefactress, and breaking the hearts of my parents." "Even so I judged of you," answered Alice; "and, therefore, I asked this interview, to conjure that you will break off all intercourse with our family-return to your parents-or, what will be much safer, visit the continent once more, and abide till God sends better days to England, for these are black with many a storm." "And can you bid me go, Alice," said the young man, taking her unresisting hand; "can you bid me go, and yet own an interest in my fate?-Can a gentleman, and a loyal one, I am bound to show my face to, meanly abandon my parents, my friends, my country-suffer the existence of evils which I might aid to prevent, forego the prospect of doing such little good as might be in my power-fall from an active and honourable station, into the condition of a fugitive and time-server-Can you bid me do all this, Alice? Can you bid me do all this, and, in the same breath, bid farewell for ever to you and happiness?-It is impossible-I cannot surrender at once my love and my honour." you bid me, for fear of dangers, which, as a man, as Peveril, eagerly; "this is adding insult to cruelty. The result of a moment's deliberation was fatal "Can you speak thus, Alice?" said her lover. "Can you use such expressions? and are you not sensible that they show plainly it is your own pride, not regard for me, that makes you resist the hap There is no remedy," said Alice, but she could not suppress a sigh while she said so-" there is no remedy-none whatever. What we might have been to each other, placed in more favourable circumstances, it avails not to think of now; and, circumstanced as we are, with open war about to break out betwixt our parents and friends, we can be but well-piness of both?" wishers-cold and distant well-wishers, who must part on this spot, and at this hour, never to meet again. No, by Heaven!" said Peveril, animated at the same time by his own feelings, and by the sight of the emotions which his companion in vain endeavoured to suppress," No, by Heaven!" he exclaimed, "we part not-Alice, we part not. If I am to leave my native land, you shall be my companion in my exile. What have you to lose?--Whom have you to abandon ?-Your father?-The good old cause, as it is termed, is dearer to him than a thousand daughters; and setting him aside, what tie is there between you and this barren isle-between my Alice and any spot of the British dominions, where her Julian does not sit by her?" "Oh, Julian," answered the maiden, "why make my duty more painful by visionary projects, which you ought not to name, or I to listen to ?-Your parents-my father-it cannot be !" "Fear not for my parents, Alice," replied Julian, and pressing close to his companion's side, he ventured to throw his arm around her; "they love me, and they will soon learn to love, in Alice, the only being on earth who could have rendered their son happy. And for your own father, when State and Church intrigues allow him to bestow a thought upon you, will he not think that your happiness, your security, is better cared for when you are my wife, than were you to continue under the mercenary charge of yonder foolish woman? What could his pride desire better for you, than the establishment which will one day be mine? Come then, Alice, and since you condemn me to banishment-since you deny me a share in those stirring achievements which are about to agitate England-come! do you, for you only can, do you reconcile me to exile and inaction, and give happiness to one, who, for your sake, is willing to resign honour!" "It cannot-it cannot be," said Alice, faltering as she uttered her negative. "And yet," she said, "how many in my place-left alone and unprotected, as I am-But I must not-I must not-for your sake, Julian, I must not!" "Say not for my sake you must not, Alice," said "Not so, Julian; not so," answered Alice, with tears in her eyes; "it is the command of duty to us both-of duty, which we cannot transgress, without risking our happiness here and hereafter. Think what I, the cause of all, should feel, when your father frowns, your mother weeps, your noble friends stand aloof, and you, even you yourself, shall have made the painful discovery, that you have incurred the contempt and resentment of all to satisfy a boyish passion; and that the poor beauty, once sufficient to mislead you, is gradually declining under the influence of grief and vexation! This I will not risk. I see distinctly it is best we should here break off and part; and I thank God, who gives me light enough to perceive, and strength enough to withstand, your folly as well as my own. Farewell, then, Julian; but first take the solemn advice which I called you hither to impart to you:-Shun my father-you cannot walk in his paths, and be true to gratitude and to honour. What he doth from pure and honourable motives, you cannot aid him in, except upon the suggestion of a silly and interested passion, at variance with all the engagements you have formed at coming into life." "Once more, Alice," answered Julian, "I understand you not. If a course of action is good, it needs no vindication from the actor's motives-if bad, it can derive none." "You cannot blind me with your sophistry, Julian," replied Alice Bridgenorth, "any more than you can overpower me with your passion. Had the patriarch destined his son to death upon any less ground than faith and humble obedience to a divine commandment, he had meditated a murder and not a sacrifice. In our late bloody and lamentable wars, how many drew swords on either side, from the purest and most honourable motives? How many from the culpable suggestions of ambition, self-seeking, and love of plunder? Yet while they marched in the same ranks, and spurred their horses at the same trumpet-sound, the memory of the former is dear to us as patriots or loyalists-that of those who acted on mean or unworthy promptings, is either execrated or forgotten. Once more, I warn you, avoid my father-leave this island, which will be soon agitated by strange incidents-while you stay, be on your guard-distrust every thing-be jealous of every one, even of those to whom it may seem almost impossible, from circumstances, to attach a shadow of suspicion-trust not the very stones of the most secret apartment in Holm-Peel, for that which hath wings shall carry the matter." Here Alice broke off suddenly, and with a faint shriek; for, stepping from behind the stunted copse which had concealed him, her father stood unexpectedly before them. "I obey you, father," said Alice, who had by this time recovered from the extremity of her surprise,"I obey you; but Heaven is my witness that you do me more than injustice in suspecting me capable of betraying your secrets, even had it been necessary to save my own life or that of Julian. That you are walking in a dangerous path I well know; but you do it with your eyes open, and are actuated by motives of which you can estimate the worth and value. My sole wish was, that this young man should not enter blindfold on the same perils; and I had a right to warn him, since the feelings by which he is hoodwinked had a direct reference to me.' "Tis well, minion," said Bridgenorth, "you have spoken your say. Retire, and let me complete the conference which you have so considerately commenced." "I go, sir," said Alice.-"Julian, to you my last words are, and I would speak them with my last breath-Farewell, and caution!" She turned from them, disappeared among the underwood, and was seen no more. "A true specimen of womankind," said her fa The reader cannot have forgotten that this was the second time in which the stolen interviews of the lovers had been interrupted by the unexpected apparition of Major Bridgenorth. On this second occasion his countenance exhibited anger mixed with solemnity, like that of the spirit to a ghost-seer, whom he upbraids with having neglected a charge imposed at their first meeting. Even his anger, however, produced no more violent emotion than a cold sternness of manner in his speech and action. "I thank you, Alice," he said to his daughter, "for the pains you have taken to traverse my designs towards this young man, and towards yourself. Ither, looking after her, "who would give the cause thank you for the hints you have thrown out before my appearance, the suddenness of which alone has prevented you from carrying your confidence to a pitch which would have placed my life and that of others at the discretion of a boy, who, when the cause of God and his country is laid before him, has not leisure to think of them, so much is he occupied with such a baby-face as thine." Alice, pale as death, continued motionless, with her eyes fixed on the ground, without attempting the slightest reply to the ironical reproaches of her father. And you," continued Major Bridgenorth, turning from his daughter to her lover," you, sir, have well repaid the liberal confidence which I placed in you with so little reserve. You I have to thank also for some lessons, which may teach me to rest satisfied with the churl's blood which nature has poured into my veins, and with the rude nurture which my father allotted to me.' "I understand you not, sir," replied Julian Peveril, who, feeling the necessity of saying something, could not, at the moment, find any thing more fitting to say. "Yes, sir, I thank you," said Major Bridgenorth, in the same cold sarcastic tone, "for having shown me, that breach of hospitality, infringement of good faith, and such like peccadilloes, are not utterly foreign to the mind and conduct of the heir of a knightly house of twenty descents. It is a great lesson to me, sir; for hitherto I had thought with the vulgar, that gentle manners went with gentle blood. But perhaps courtesy is too chivalrous a quality to be wasted in intercourse with a roundheaded fanatic like myself." "Major Bridgenorth," said Julian, "whatever has happened in this interview which may have displeased you, has been the result of feelings suddenly and strongly animated by the crisis of the momentnothing was premeditated." "Not even your meeting, I suppose?" replied Bridgenorth, in the same cold_tone. "" You, sir, wandered hither from Holm-Peel-my daughter strolled forth from the Black Fort; and chance, doubtless, assigned you a meeting by the stone of Goddard Crovan?-Young man, disgrace yourself by no more apologies-they are worse than useless. And you, maiden, who, in your fear of losing your lover, could verge on betraying what might have cost a father his life-begone to your home. I will talk with you at more leisure, and teach you practically those duties which you seem to have forgotten." "On my honour, sir," said Julian, "your daughter is guiltless of all that can offend you; she resisted every offer which the headstrong violence of my passion urged me to press upon her." And, in brief," said Bridgenorth, "I am not to believe that you have met in this remote place of rendezvous by Alice's special appointment?" Peveril knew not what to reply, and Bridgenorth again signed with his hand to his daughter to withdraw. of nations up, rather than endanger a hair of her lover's head.-You, Master Peveril, doubtless, hold her opinion, that the best love is a safe love?" "Were danger alone in my way," said Peveril, much surprised at the softened tone in which Bridgenorth made this observation, "there are few things which I would not face to-to-deserve your good opinion." "Or rather to win my daughter's hand," said Bridgenorth. "Well, young man, one thing has nleased me in your conduct, though of much I have my reasons to complain-one thing has pleased me. You have surmounted that bounding wall of aristocratical pride, in which your father, and, I suppose, his fathers, remained imprisoned, as in the precincts of a feudal fortress-you have leaped over this barrier, and shown yourself not unwilling to ally yourself with a family, whom your father spurns as lowborn and ignoble.' However favourable this speech sounded towards success in his suit, it so broadly stated the consequences of that success so far as his parents were concerned, that Julian felt it in the last degree difficult to reply. At length, perceiving that Major Bridgenorth seemed resolved quietly to await his answer, he mustered up courage to say, "The feelings which I entertain towards your daughter, Master Bridgenorth, are of a nature to supersede many other considerations, to which, in any other case, I should feel it my duty to give the most reverential attention. I will not disguise from you, that my father's prejudices against such a match would be very strong; but I devoutly believe they would disappear when he came to know the merit of Alice Bridgenorth, and to be sensible that she only could make his son happy." "In the meanwhile, you are desirous to complete the union which you propose without the knowledge of your parents, and take the chance of their being hereafter reconciled to it? So I understand, froni the proposal which you made but lately to my daughter." The turns of human nature, and of human passion, are so irregular and uncertain, that although Julian had but a few minutes before urged to Alice a private marriage, and an elopement to the continent, as measures upon which the whole happiness of his life depended, the proposal seemed not to him half so delightful when stated by the calm, cold, dictatorial accents of her father. It sounded no longer like the impulses of ardent passion, throwing all other considerations aside, but as a distinct surrender of the dignity of his house to one who seemed to consider their relative situation as the triumph of Bridge north over Peveril. He was mute for a moment, in the vain attempt to shape his answer so as at once to intimate acquiescence in what Bridgenorth stated, and a vindication of his own regard for his parents and for the honour of his house. This delay gave rise to suspicion, and Bridge |