Peveril of the Peak

will have bell

rrels, brandish

w freely, but i

ocks, and venis

e heart's-blood of

PL

nd he felt it would be unbecoming to relapse into the state of lethargic melancholy from which it had roused him. Time also had its usual effect in mitigating the subjects of his regret; and when he had passed one day at the Hall in regretting that he could not expect the indirect news of his daughter's health, which Sir Geoffrey used to communicate in his almost daily call, he reflected that it wou

being to whom I have given birth, gliding to the grave which ought to enclose me long before h

indale Castle, and gave the lady the welcome assurances

ith in idle presentiments of evil. So often had Sir Geoffrey's repeated attempts in favour of the Stewarts led him into new misfortunes, that when, the other morning, I saw him once more dressed in his fatal armour, and heard the sound of his trumpet, which had been so long silent, it seemed to me as if I

ur and five years old, led in his hand, with an air of dignified support and attention, a little girl of eighteen months, who rol

heart, and the child, though at first alarmed at the vehemence of his caresses, presently, as if prompted by Nature, smiled in reply to them. Again he held her at some distance from him, and examined her more attentively;

, who had sat observing the scene with great pleasure; "but praise be to God in

nt, and I will see my little charge often. Dame Martha, the housekeeper at Moultrassie, has

has been the grave of her race. The air of the low grounds suited them not - or there is

ervaluing my qualities as a nurse. If she goes not to her father's house, she shall not quit mine. I will keep the little lady as a pledge

orth. It was precisely the point which he would have given w

pprehensions, the restraint and gloom of the solitude in which he dwelt, were really calculated to produce the evil which most of all he dreaded. She pitied him, she felt for him, she was grateful for former protection received at his hands - she had become interested in the child itself. What female fails to feel such interest in the helpless creature she has tended? And to sum the whole up, the dame had a share of human vanity; and being a sort of Lady Bountiful in her way (for the character was not

was in the tone of one who would gladly hear them overruled. "Madam," he said, "your kindness makes me the happiest and most thankful of men; but can it be consistent with your own convenience? Sir Geoffrey has his opinions

ht by the direct hand of Providence, may be the means of closing and healing all civil and religious dissensions among us, and that, instead of showing the superior purity of our faith, by persecuting those who

u - and like my friend Sir Geoffrey"-(this he added after a moment's pause, being perhaps rather complimentary than sincere)-"we, who thought it our duty in time past to take arms for freedom of conscience, and against arbitrary

enings do but point out conclusions, which, unless they were so anticip

oar before th

nse the boar

it when he did

so long since we have met, that

e words of a Warwickshire stroller, to teach me my grateful duty to your ladyship on this occ

e day, neighbour, I am going, at my lord and husband's command, to issue out my warrants to invite the whole neighbourhood to a solemn feast at the Castle, on Thursday next; and I not only pray you to be personally present yourself, but to prevail on your worth

s eye first to the oak-carved ceiling, and anon fixed it upon the floor; then threw it around the room till it lighted on hi

nor temperament are Jovial or Mercurial, it becomes me to be grateful to Heaven for the good He has sent me by the means of your ladyship. David, the man after God's own heart, did wash and eat bread when his beloved child was removed - mine is restored to me, and shall I not show gratitude under a

a guest bidden to a festival, and having kissed, and solemnly blessed his littl