Palestine; and in order to meet him, you must grace him so far as to visit his pavilion; a condescension which, as a knight and Norman noble, he can scarcely ask of a damsel of high degree." "And is that all ?" said Eveline, who, educated in a remote situation, was a stranger to some of the nice points of etiquette which the damsels of the time observed in keeping their state towards the other sex. "Shall I not," she said, "go to render my thanks to my deliverer, since he cannot come hither to receive them? Tell the noble Hugo de Lacy, that, next to my gratitude to Heaven, it is due to him, and to his brave companions in arms. will come to his tent as to a holy shrine; and, could such homage please him, I would come barefooted, were the road strewed with flints and with thorns." "My uncle will be equally honoured and delighted with your resolve," said Damian; "but it will be his study to save you all unnecessary trouble, and with that view a pavilion shall be instantly planted before your castle gate, which, if it please you to grace it with your presence, may be the place for the desired interview.' Eveline readily acquiesced in what was proposed, as the expedient agreeable to the Constable, and recommended by Damian; but, in the simplicity of her heart, she saw no good reason why, under the guardianship of the latter, she should not instantly, and without farther form, have traversed the little familiar plain on which, when a child, she used to chase butterflies and gather king's-cups, and where of later years she was wont to exercise her palfrey on this well-known plain, being the only space, and that of small extent, which separated her from the camp of the Constable. The youthful emissary, with whose presence she had now become familiar, retired to acquaint his kinsman and lord with the success of his commission; and Eveline experienced the first sensation of anxiety upon her own account which had agitated her bosom, since the defeat and death of Gwenwyn gave her permission to dedicate her thoughts exclusively to grief, for the loss which she had sustained in the person of her noble father. But now, when that grief, though not satiated, was blunted by solitary indulgencenow that she was to appear before the person of whose fame she had heard so much, of whose powerful protection she had received such recent proofs, her mind insensibly turned upon the nature and consequences of that important interview. She had seen Hugo de Lacy, indeed, at the great tournament at Chester, where his valour and skill were the theme of every tongue, and she had received the homage which he rendered her beauty when he assigned to her the prize, with all the gay flutterings of youthful vanity; but of his person and figure she had no distinct idea, excepting that he was a middle-sized man, dressed in peculiarly rich armour, and that the countenance, which looked out from under the shade of his raised visor, seemed to her juvenile estimate very nearly as old as that of her father. This person, of whom she had such slight recollection, had been the chosen instrument employed by her tutelar protectress in rescuing her from captivity, and in avenging the loss of a father, and she was bound by her vow to consider him as the arbiter of her fate, if indeed he should deem it worth his while to become so. She wearied her memory with vain efforts to recollect so much of his features as might give her some means of guessing at his disposition, and her judgment toiled in conjecturing what line of conduct he was likely to pursue towards her. The great Baron himself seemed to attach to their meeting a degree of consequence, which was intimated by the formal preparations which he made for it. Eveline had imagined that he might have ridden to the gate of the castle in five minutes, and that, if a pavilion were actually necessary to the decorum of their interview, a tent could have been transferred from his leaguer to the castle gate, and pitched there in ten minutes more. But it was plain that the Constable considered much more form and ceremony as essential to their meeting; for in about half an hour after Damian de Lacy had left the castle, not VOL. IV.-4 Q fewer than twenty soldiers and artificers, under the direction of a pursuivant, whose tabard was decorated with the armorial bearings of the house of Lacy, were employed in erecting before the gate of the Garde Doloureuse one of those splendid pavilions, which were employed at tournaments and other occasions of public state. It was of purple silk, valanced with gold embroidery, having the cords of the same rich materials. The door-way was formed by six lances, the staves of which were plated with silver, and the blades composed of the same precious metal. These were pitched into the ground by couples, and crossed at the top, so as to form a sort of succession of arches, which were covered by drapery of seagreen silk, forming a pleasing contrast with the purple and gold. The interior of the tent was declared by Dame Gillian and others, whose curiosity induced them to visit it, to be of a splendour agreeing with the outside. There were Oriental carpets, and there were tapestries of Ghent and Bruges mingled in gay profusion, while the top of the pavilion, covered with sky-blue silk, was arranged so as to resemble the firmament, and richly studded with a sun, moon, and stars, composed of solid silver. This gorgeous pavilion had been made for the use of the celebrated William of Ypres, who acquired such great wealth as general of the mercenaries of King Stephen, and was by him created Earl of Albemarle; but the chance of war had assigned it to De Lacy, after one of the dreadful engagements, so many of which occurred during the civil wars, betwixt Stephen and the Empress Maude, or Matilda. The Constable had never before been known to use it; for although wealthy and powerful, Hugo de Lacy was, on most occasions, plain and unostentatious; which, to those who knew him, made his present conduct seem the more remarkable. At the hour of noon he arrived, nobly mounted, at the gate of the castle, and drawing up a small body of servants, pages, and equerries, who attended him in their richest liveries, placed himself at their head, and directed his nephew to intimate to the Lady of the Garde Doloureuse, that the humblest of her servants awaited the honour of her presence at the castle gate. Among the spectators who witnessed his arrival, there were many who thought that some part of the state and splendour attached to his pavilion and his retinue, had been better applied to set forth the person of the Constable himself, as his attire was simple even to meanness, and his person by no means of such distinguished bearing as might altogether dispense with the advantages of dress and ornament. The opinion became yet more prevalent, when he descended from horseback, until which time his masterly management of the noble animal he bestrode, gave a dignity to his person and figure, which he lost upon dismounting from his steel saddle. In height, the celebrated Constable scarce attained the middle size, and his limbs, though strongly built and well knit, were deficient in grace and ease of movement. His legs were slightly curved outwards, which gave him advantage as a horseman, but showed unfavourably when he was upon foot. He halted, though very slightly, in consequence of one of his legs having been broken by the fall of a charger, and inartificially set by an inexperienced surgeon. This, also, was a blemish in his deportment; and though his broad shoulders, sinewy arms, and expanded chest, betokened the strength which he often displayed, it was strength of a clumsy and ungraceful character. His language and gestures were those of one seldom used to converse with equals, more seldom still with superiors; short, abrupt, and decisive, almost to the verge of sternness. In the judgment of those who were habitually acquainted with the Constable, there was both dignity and kindness in his keen eye and expanded brow; but such as saw him for the first time judged less favourably, and pretended to discover a harsh and passionate expression, although they allowed his countenance to have, on the whole, a bold and martial character. His age was in reality not more than five-and-forty, but the fatigues of war and of climate had added in appearance ten years to that period of time. By far the plainest dressed man of his train, he wore only a short Norman mantle, over the close dress of shamoy-leather, which, almost always covered by his armour, was in some places slightly soiled by its pressure. A brown hat, in which he wore a sprig of rosemary in memory of his vow, served for his head-gear-his good sword and dagger hung at a belt made of seal-skin. Thus accoutred, and at the head of a glittering and gilded band of retainers, who watched his slight est glance, the Constable of Chester awaited the arrival of the Lady Eveline Berenger, at the gate of her castle of Doloureuse. "I shall the more easily understand you, my lord,” said Eveline, trembling, though she scarce knew why, "My story, then, must be a blunt one. Something there passed between your honourable father and myself, touching a union of our houses."-He paused, as if he wished or expected Eveline to say something but, as she was silent, he proceeded. “I would to God, that as he was at the beginning of this treaty, it had pleased Heaven he should have conducted and concluded it with his usual wisdom; but what remedy?-he has gone the path which we must all tread." "Your lordship," said Eveline, "has nobly avenged the death of your noble friend." The trumpets from within announced her presence -the bridge fell, and, led by Damian de Lacy in his gayest habit, and followed by her train of females, "I have but done my devoir, lady, as a good knight and menial or vassal attendants, she came forth in in defence of an endangered maiden-a Lord Marcher her loveliness from under the massive and antique in protection of the frontier-and a friend in avenging portal of her paternal fortress. She was dressed with his friend. But to the point. Our long and noble out ornaments of any kind, and in deep mourning line draws near to a close. Of my remote kinsman, weeds, as best befitted her recent loss; forming, in Randal Lacy, I will not speak; for in him I see this respect, a strong contrast with the rich attire of nothing that is good or hopeful, nor have we been at her conductor, whose costly dress gleamed with jew-one for many years. My nephew, Damian, gives els and embroidery, while their age and personal hopeful promise to be a worthy branch of our ancient beauty made them in every other respect the fair tree-but he is scarce twenty years old, and hath a counterpart of each other; a circumstance which long career of adventure and peril to encounter, ere probably gave rise to the delighted murmur and buzz he can honourably propose to himself the duties of which passed through the bystanders on their ap- domestic privacy or matrimonial engagements. His pearance, and which only respect for the deep mourn- mother also is English, some abatement perhaps in ing of Eveline prevented from breaking out into the escutcheon of his arms; yet, had ten years more shouts of applause. passed over him with the honours of chivalry, 1 The instant that the fair foot of Eveline had made should have proposed Damian de Lacy for the happe a step beyond the palisades which formed the out-ness to which I at present aspire." ward barrier of the castle, the Constable de Lacy came forward to meet her, and, bending his right knee to the earth, craved pardon for the discourtesy which his vow had imposed on him, while he expressed his sense of the honour with which she now graced him, as one for which his life, devoted to her service, would be an inadequate acknowledgment. The action and speech, though both in consistence with the romantic gallantry of the times, embarrassed Eveline; and the rather that this homage was so publicly rendered. She entreated the Constable to stand up, and not to add to the confusion of one who was already sufficiently at a loss how to acquit herself of the heavy debt of gratitude which she owed him. The constable arose accordingly, after saluting her hand, which she extended to him, and prayed her, since she was so far condescending, to deign to enter the poor hut he had prepared for her shelter, and to grant him the honour of the audience he had solicited. Eveline, without further answer than a bow, yielded him her hand, and, desiring the rest of her train to remain where they were, commanded the attendance of Rose Flammock. "Lady," said the Constable, "the matters of which I am compelled thus hastily to speak, are of a nature the most private." "This maiden," replied Eveline, "is my bowerwoman, and acquainted with my most inward thoughts; I beseech you to permit her presence at our conference." "It were better otherwise," said Hugo de Lacy, ⚫ with some embarrassment; "but your pleasure shall be obeyed." He led the Lady Eveline into the tent, and entreated her to be seated on a large pile of cushions, covered with rich Venetian silk. Rose placed herself behind her mistress, half kneeling upon the same cushions, and watched the motions of the all-accomplished soldier and statesman, whom the voice of fame lauded so loudly; enjoying his embarrassment as a triumph of her sex, and scarcely of opinion that his shamoy doublet and square forin accorded with the splendour of the scene, or the almost angelic beauty of Eveline, the other actor therein. "Lady," said the Constable, after some hesitation, "I would willingly say what it is my lot to tell you, in such terms as ladies love to listen to, and which surely your excellent beauty more especially deserves; but I have been too long trained in camps and councils to express my meaning otherwise than simply and plainly." "You-you, my lord!-it is impossible!" said Eveline, endeavouring at the same time to suppress all that could be offensive in the surprise which she could not help exhibiting. "I do not wonder," replied the Constable, calmly,— for, the ice now being broken, he resumed the natural steadiness of his manner and character,-"that you express surprise at this daring, proposal, I have not perhaps the form that pleases a lady's eye, and I have forgotten,-that is, if ever I knew them, the terms and phrases which pleases a lady's ear; but, poble Eveline, the Lady of Hugh de Lacy will be one of the foremost among the matronage of England." "It will the better become the individual to whom so high a dignity is offered," said Eveline, "to consider how far she is capable of discharging its duties." "Of that I fear nothing," said De Lacy. "She who hath been so excellent a daughter, cannot be less estimable in every other relation in life.' "I do not find that confidence in myself, my lord," replied the embarrassed maiden, "with which you are so willing to load me-And I-forgive me-must crave time for other inquiries as well as those which respect myself." Your father, noble lady, had this union warmly at heart. This scroll, signed with his own hand, wil show it." He bent his knee as he gave the paper "The wife of De Lacy will have, as the daughter of Raymond Berenger merits, the rank of a princess; his widow, the dowery of a queen." 66 Mock me not with your knee, my lord, while you plead to me the paternal commands, which, joined to other circumstances". She paused, and sizhod deeply--"leave me, perhaps, but little room for freewill!" Emboldened by this answer, De Lacy, who had hitherto remained on his knee, rose gently, and assurning a seat beside the Lady Eveline, continued to press his suit-not, indeed, in the language of passion but of a plain-spoken man, eagerly urging a proposal on which his happiness depended. The vision of the miraculous image was, it may be supposed, uppermost in the mind of Eveline, who, tied down by the solemn vow she had made on that occasion, felt herself constrained to return evasive answers, where she might perhaps have given a direct negative, had her own wishes alone been to decide her reply. "You cannot," she said, "expect from me, my lord, in this my so recent orphan state, that I should come to a speedy determination upon an affair of such deep importance. Give me leisure of your nobleness for consideration with my self-for consultation with my friends." "Alas! fair Eveline," said the Baron,, "do not be offended at my urgency. I cannot long delay setting forward on a distant and perilous expedition; and the short time left me for soliciting your favour, must be an apology for my importunity." And is it in these circumstances, noble De Lacy, that you would encumber yourself with family ties ?" asked the maiden, timidly. "I am God's soldier," said the Constable, "and He, in whose cause I fight in Palestine, will defend my wife in England." "Hear then my present answer, my lord," said Eveline Berenger, rising from her seat. "To-morrow I proceed to the Benedictine nunnery at Gloucester, where resides my honoured father's sister, who is Abbess of that reverend house. To her guidance I will commit myself in this matter." "A fair and maidenly resolution," answered De Lacy, who seemed, on his part, rather glad that the conference was abridged, "and, as I trust, not altogether unfavourable to the suit of your humble suppliant, since the good Lady Abbess hath been long my honoured friend." He then turned to Rose, who was about to attend her lady:-"Pretty maiden," he said, offering a chain of gold, "let this carcanet encircle thy neck, and buy thy good-will."" 'My good-will cannot be purchased, my lord," said Rose, putting back the gift which he proffered. "Your fair word, then," said the Constable, again pressing it upon her. "Fair words are easily bought," said Rose, still rejecting the chain, "but they are seldom worth the purchase-money.' "Do you scorn my proffer, damsel ?" said De Lacy; it has graced the neck of a Norman count?" "Give it to a Norman countess, then, my lord," said the damsel; "I am plain Rose Flammock, the weaver's daughter. I keep my good word to go with my good-will, and a latten chain will become me as well as beaten gold." "Peace, Rose," said her lady; "you are over malapert to talk thus to the Lord Constable.-And you, iny lord," she continued, "permit me now to depart, since you are possessed of my answer to your present proposal. I regret it had not been of some less delicate nature, that by granting it at once, and without delay, I might have shown my sense of your services.' The lady was handed forth by the Constable of Chester, with the same ceremony which had been observed at their entrance, and she returned to her own castle, sad and anxious in mind for the event of this important conference. She gathered closely around her the great mourning veil, that the alteration of her countenance might not be observed; and, without pausing to speak even to Father Aldrovand, she instantly withdrew to the privacy of her own bower. WHEN the Lady Eveline had retired into her own private chamber, Rose Flammock followed her unbidden, and proffered her assistance in removing the large veil which she had worn while she was abroad; but the lady refused her permission, saying, "You are forward with service, maiden, when it is not required of you." "You are displeased with me, lady!" said Rose. And if I am, I have cause," replied Eveline. "You know my difficulties-you know what my duty denands; yet, instead of aiding me to make the sacrifice, you render it more difficult." "Would I had influence to guide your path!" said Rose; "you should find it a smooth one-ay, an honest and straight one, to boot!". "How mean you, maiden ?" said Eveline. "I would have you," answered Rose, "recall the encouragement the consent, I may almost call it, you have yielded to this proud baron. He is too great to be loved himself too haughty to love you as you deserve. If you wed him, you wed gilded misery, and, it may be, dishonour as well as discontent." "Remeinber, damsel," answered Eveline Berenger, "his services towards us." "His services?" answered Rose. "He ventured his life for us, indeed, but so did every soldier in his host. And am I bound to wed any ruffling blade among them, because he fought when the trumpet sounded? I wonder what is the meaning of their devoir, as they call it, when it shames them not to claim the highest reward woman can bestow, merely for discharging the duty of a gentleman by a distressed creature. A gentleman, said I?-The coarsest boor in Flanders would hardly expect thanks for doing the duty of a man by women in such a case." But my father's wishes ?" said the young lady. "They had reference, without doubt, to the inclination of your father's daughter," answered the attendant. "I will not do my late noble lord-(may God assoilzie him!)-the injustice to suppose he would have urged aught in this matter which squared not with your free choice." "Then my vow-my fatal vow-as I had well nigh called it," said Eveline. May Heaven forgive me my ingratitude to my patroness!" 'Even this shakes me not," said Rose; "I will never believe our Lady of Mercy would exact such a penalty for her protection, as to desire me to wed the man I could not love. She smiled, you say, upon your prayer. Go--lay at her feet these difficulties which oppress you, and see if she will not smile again. Or seek a dispensation from your vow-seek it at the expense of the half of your estate seek it at the expense of your whole property. Go a pilgrimage barefooted to Rome-do any thing but give your hand where you cannot give your heart." "You speak warmly, Rose," said Eveline, still sighing as she spoke, "Alas! my sweet lady, I have cause. Have I not seen a household where love was not-where, although there was worth and good-will, and enough of the means of life, all was imbittered by regrets, which were not only vain, but criminal?" 66 Yet, methinks, Rose, a sense of what is due to ourselves and to others, may, if listened to, guide and comfort us under such feelings even as thou hast described." "It will save us from sin, lady, but not from sorrow,' "answered Rose; "and wherefore should we, with our eyes open, rush into circumstances where duty must war with inclination? Why row against wind and tide, when you may as easily take advantage of the breeze?" Because the voyage of my life lies where winds and currents oppose me," answered Eveline. “It is iny fate, Rose.' "Not unless you make it such by choice," answered Rose. "O, could you but have seen the pale cheek, sunken eye, and dejected bearing of my poor mother! -I have said too much." "It was then your mother," said her young lady, "of whose unhappy wedlock you have spoken?" "It was-it was," said Rose, bursting into tears. "I have exposed my own shame to save you from sorrow. Unhappy she was, though most guiltlessso unhappy, that the breach of the dyke, and the inundation in which she perished, were. but for my sake, to her welcome as night to the weary labourer. She had a heart like yours, formed to love and be loved; and it would be doing honour to yonder proud Baron, to say he had such worth as my father's.-Yet was she most unhappy. O! my sweet lady, be warned. and break off this ill-omened match!" Eveline returned the pressure with which the affectionate girl, as she clung to her hand, enforced her well-meant advice, and then muttered, with a profound sigh,-"Rose, it is too late." 'Never-never," said Rose, looking eagerly around the room. "Where are those writing materials?Let me bring Father Aldrovand, and instruct him of your pleasure-or, stay, the good father hath himself an eye on the splendours of the world which he thinks he has abandoned-he will be no safe secretary.I will go myself to the Lord Constable-me his rank cannot dazzle, or his wealth bribe, or his power overawe. I will tell him he doth no knightly part towards you, to press his contract with your father in such an hour of helpless sorrow-no pious part, in delaying the execution of his vows for the purpose of marrying or giving in marriage-no honest part, to press himself on a maiden whose heart has not decided in his favour -no wise part, to marry one whom he must presently abandon, either to solitude, or to the dangers of a profligate court." You have not courage for such an embassy, Rose," said her mistress, sadly smiling through her tears at her youthful attendant's zeal. "Not courage for it!-and wherefore not ?-Try me," answered the Flemish maiden, in return. "I am neither Saracen nor Welshman-his lance and sword scare me not. I follow not his banner-his voice of command concerns me not. I could with your leave, boldly tell him he is a selfish man, veiling with fair and honourable pretext his pursuit of objects which concern his own pride and gratification, and founding high claims on having rendered the services which common humanity demanded. And all for what?-Forsooth, the great De Lacy must have an heir to his noble house, and his fair nephew is not good enough to be his representative, because his mother was of Anglo-Saxon strain, and the real heir must be pure unmixed Norman; and for this Lady Eveline Berenger, in the first bloom of youth, must be wedded to a man who might be her father, and who, after leaving her unprotected for years, will return in such guise as might beseem her grandfather!" น "Since he is thus scrupulous concerning purity of lineage," said Eveline, perhaps he may call to mind-what so good a herald as he is cannot fail to know that I am of Saxon strain by my father's mother." "Oh," replied Rose, "he will forgive that blot in the heiress of the Garde Doloureuse." "Fie, Rose," answered her mistress, "thou dost him wrong in taxing him with avarice.' "Perhaps so," answered Rose; "but he is undeniably ambitious; and Avarice, I have heard, is Ambition's bastard brother, though Ambition be sometimes ashamed of the relationship." You speak too boldly, damsel," said Eveline; and, while I acknowledge your affection, it becomes me to check your mode of expression." Nay, take that tone, and I have done," said Rose. -"To Eveline, whom I love, and who loves me, I can speak freely-but to the Lady of the Garde Doloureuse, the proud Norman damsel, (which when you choose to be you can be,) I can curtsey as low as my station demands, and speak as little truth as she cares to hear." "Thou art a wild but a kind girl," said Eveline: "no one who did not know thee would think that soft and childish exterior covered such a soul of fire. Thy mother must indeed have been the being of feeling and passion you paint her; for thy father-nay, nay, never arm in his defence until he be attacked-I only meant to say, that his solid sense and sound judgment are his most distinguished qualities." And I would you would avail yourself of them, lady," said Rose. "In fitting things I will; but he were rather an unmeet counsellor in that which we now treat of," said Eveline. "You mistake him," answered Rose Flammock, "and underrate his value. Sound judgment is like to the graduated measuring-wand, which, though usually applied only to coarser cloths, will give with equal truth the dimensions of Indian silk, or of cloth of gold." Well-well-this affair presses not instantly at least," said the young lady. "Leave me now, Rose, and send Gillian the tirewoman hither-I have direc'ions to give about the packing and removal of my wardrobe." "That Gillian the tire woman hath been a mighty favourite of late," said Rose; "time was when it was otherwise." "I like her manners as little as thou dost," said Eveline; "but she is old Raoul's wife-she was a sort of half-favourite with my dear father-who, like other men, was perhaps taken by that very freedom which we think unseemly in persons of our sex; and then, there is no other woman in the Castle that hath such skill in empacketing clothes without the risk of their being injured." "That last reason alone," said Rose, smiling, "is, I admit, an irresistible pretension to favour, and Dame Gillian shall presently attend you. But take my advice, lady-keep her to her bales and her mails, and let her not prate to you on what concerns her not." So saying, Rose left the apartment, and her young lady looked after her in silence-then murmured to herself "Rose loves me truly; but she would willingly be more of the mistress than the maiden; and then she is somewhat jealous of every other person that approaches me.-It is strange, that I have not seen Damian de Lacy since my interview with the Constable. He anticipates, I suppose, the chance of his finding in me a severe aunt!" But the domestics, who crowed for orders with reference to her removal early on the morrow, began now to divert the current of their lady's thoughts from the consideration of her own particular situa tion, which, as the prospect presented nothing pleasant, with the elastic spirit of youth, she willingly postponed till further leisure. CHAPTER XIII Too much rest is rust, There's ever cheer in changing ; So we'll be up and ranging.-Old Song. EARLY on the subsequent morning, a gallant company, saddened indeed by the deep mourning which their principals wore, left the well-defended Castle of the Garde Doloureuse, which had been so lately the scene of such remarkable events. The sun was just beginning to exhale the heavy dews which had fallen during the night, and to disperse the thin gray mist which eddied around towers and battlements, when Wilkin Flammock, with xx crossbowmen on horseback, and as many spearmen on foot, sallied forth from under the Gothic gateway, and crossed the sounding drawbridge. After this advanced guard, came four household servants well mounted, and after them, as many inferior female attendants, all in mourning. Then rode forth the young Lady Eveline herself, occupying the centre of the little procession, and her long black robes formed a striking contrast to the colour of her milk white palfrey. Beside her, on a Spanish jennet, the gift of her affectionate father, who had procured it at a high rate, and who would have given half his substance to gratify his daughter,-sat the girlish form of Rose Flammock, who had so much of juvenile shyness in her manner, so much of feeling and of judgment in her thoughts and actions. Dame Margery followed, mixed in the party escorted by Father Aldrovand, whose company she chiefly frequented; for Margery affected a little the character of the devotee, and her influence in the family, as having been Eve line's nurse, was so great as to render her no improper companion for the chaplain, when her lady did not require her attendance on her own person. Then came old Raoul the huntsman, his wife, and two or three other officers of Raymond Berenger's household; the steward with his golden chain, velvet cassock, and white wand, bringing up the rear, which was closed by a small band of archers, and four menat-arms. The guards, and indeed the greater part of the attendants, were only designed to give the neces sary degree of honour to the young lady's movements, by accompanying her a short space from the castle, where they were met by the Constable of Chester, who, with a retinue of thirty lances, proposed himself to escort Eveline as far as Gloucester, the place of her destination. Under his protection no danger was to be apprehended, even if the severe defeat so lately | sustained by the Welsh had not of itself been likely to prevent any attempt, on the part of those hostile mountaineers, to disturb the safety of the marches for some time to come. In pursuance of this arrangement, which permitted the armed part of Eveline's retinue to return for the protection of the castle, and the restoration of order in the district around, the Constable awaited her at the fatal bridge, at the head of the gallant band of selected horsemen whom he had ordered to attend upon him. The parties halted, as if to salute each other; but the Constable, observing that Eveline drew her veil more closely around her, and recollecting the loss she had so lately sustained on that luckless spot, had the judgment to confine his greeting to a mute reverence, so low that the lofty plume which he wore, (for he was now in complete armour,) mingled with the flowing mane of his gallant horse. Wilkin Flammock next halted, to ask the lady if she had any farther commands. "None, good Wilkin," said Eveline; "but to be, as ever, true and watchful." "The properties of a good mastiff," said Flammock. "Some rude sagacity, and a stout hand instead of a sharp case of teeth, are all that I can claim to be added to them-I will do my best.- Fare thee well, Roschen! Thou art going among strangers-forget not the qualities which made thee loved at home. The saints bless thee-farewell!" Guided by this policy, the Constable did not approach the ladies until the advance of the morning rendered it politeness to remind them, that a pleasan spot for breaking their fast occurred in the neighbourhood, where he had ventured to make some preparations for rest and refreshment. Immediately after the Lady Eveline had intimated her acceptance of this courtesy, they came in sight of the spot he alluded to, marked by an ancient oak, which, spreading its broad branches far and wide, reminded the traveller of that of Mamre, under which celestial beings accepted the hospitality of the patriarch. Across two of these huge projecting arms was flung a piece of rose-coloured sarsnet, as a canopy to keep off the morning beams, which were already rising high. Cushions of silk, interchanged with others covered with the furs of animals of the chase, were arranged round a repast, which a Norman cook had done his utmost to distinguish, by the superior delicacy of his art, from the gross meals of the Saxons, and the penurious simplicity of the Welsh tables. A fountain, which bubbled from under a large mossy stone at some distance, refreshed the air with its sound, and the taste with its liquid crystal; while, at the same time, it formed a cistern for cooling two or three flasks of Gascon wine and hippocras, which were at that time the necessary accompaniments of the morning meal. When Eveline, with Rose, the Confessor, and at some farther distance her faithful nurse, was seated at this silvan banquet, the leaves rustling to a gentle breeze, the water bubbling in the background, the birds twittering around, while the half-heard sounds of conversation and laughter at a distance announced that their guard was in the vicinity, she could not avoid making the Constable some natural compliment on his happy selection of a place of repose. "You do me more than justice," replied the Baron; the spot was selected by my nephew, who hath a fancy like a minstrel. Myself am but slow in imagining such devices." The steward next approached to take his leave, but in doing so, had nearly met with a fatal accident. It had been the pleasure of Raoul, who was in his own disposition crossgrained, and in person rheumatic, to accommodate himself with an old Arab horse, which had been kept, for the sake of the breed, as lean, and almost as lame as himself, and with a temper as vicious as that of a fiend. Betwixt the rider and the horse was a constant misunderstanding, testified on Raoul's part by oaths, rough checks with the curb, and severe digging with the spurs, which Mahound Rose looked full at her mistress, as if she endea(so paganishly was the horse named) answered by voured to look into her very inmost soul; but Eveline plunging, bounding, and endeavouring by all expe- answered with the utmost simplicity," And wheredients to unseat his rider, as well as striking and lash-fore hath not the noble Damian waited to join us at ing out furiously at whatever else approached him. It the entertainment which he hath directed?" was thought by many of the household, that Raoul preferred this vicious cross-tempered animal upon all occasions when he travelled in company with his wife, in order to take advantage by the chance, that amongst the various kicks, plunges, gambades, lashings out, and other eccentricities of Mahound, his heels might come in contact with Dame Gillian's ribs. And now, when as the important steward spurred up his palfrey to kiss his young lady's hand, and to take his leave, it seemed to the bystanders as if Raoul so managed his bridle and spur, that Mahound yerked out his hoofs at the same moment, one of which Mean while, the Constable, removing, with the ascoming in contact with the steward's thigh, would sistance of his squire, his mailed hood and its steel have splintered it like a rotten reed, had the parties crest, as well as his gauntlets, remained in his flexible been a couple of inches nearer to each other. As it coat-of-mail, composed entirely of rings of steel curiwas, the steward sustained considerable damage; ously interwoven, his hands bare, and his brows coand they that observed the grin upon Raoul's vinegar vered with a velvet bonnet of a peculiar fashion, countenance entertained little doubt, that Mahound's appropriated to the use of knights, and called a morheels then and there avenged certain nods, winks, and tier, which permitted him both to converse and to eat wreathed smiles, which had passed betwixt the gold-more easily than when he wore the full defensive chained functionary and the coquettish tirewoman since the party left the castle. This incident abridged the painful solemnity of parting betwixt the Lady Eveline and her dependants, and lessened at the same time the formality of her meeting with the Constable, and, as it were, resigning herself to his protection. Hugo de Lacy, having commanded six of his menat-arms to proceed as an advanced-guard, remained himself to see the steward properly deposited on a litter, and then, with the rest of his followers, marched in military fashion about one hundred yards in the rear of Lady Eveline and her retinue, judiciously forbearing to present himself to her society while she was engaged in the orisons which the place where they met naturally suggested, and waiting patiently until the elasticity of youthful temper should require some diversion of the gloomy thoughts which the scene inspired. "He prefers riding onward," said the Baron, "with some light-horsemen; for, notwithstanding there are now no Welsh knaves stirring, yet the marches are never free from robbers and outlaws; and though there is nothing to fear for a band like ours, yet you should not be alarmed even by the approach of danger." "I have indeed şeen but too much of it lately," said Eveline; and relapsed into the melancholy mood from which the novelty of the scene had for a moment awakened her. armour. His discourse was plain, sensible, and manly; and, turning upon the state of the country, and the precautions to be observed for governing and defending so disorderly a frontier, it became gradually interesting to Eveline, one of whose warmest wishes was to be the protectress of her father's vassals. De Lacy, on his part, seemed much pleased; for, young as Eveline was, her questions showed intelligence, and her mode of answering, both apprehension and docility. In short, familiarity was so far established betwixt them, that, in the next stage of their journey, the Constable seemed to think his appropriate place was at the Lady Eveline's bridle-rein; and although she certainly did not countenance his attendance, yet neither did she seem willing to discourage it.Himself no ardent lover, although captivated both with the beauty and the amiable qualities of the fair orphan, De Lacy was satisfied with being endured as a companion, and made no efforts to improve the |