Peveril of the Peak

Give me to dr

eep away this

and Cle

dence and with patience, endeavouring to repair the damages which the Civil Wars had inflicted upon their fortune; and murmuring a little when her plans of economy were interrupted by the liberal hospitality, which was her husband's principal expense, and to which he was attached, not only from his own English hea

would have been most desirable that this encumbrance also should be cleared, and it was the great object of Dame Margaret's economy to effect the discharge; for although interest was regularly settled with Master Win-the-Fight, the Chesterfield attorney,

nner and countenance. Yet his actual conduct was not only fair, but liberal; for indulgence was given, in the way of delay of payment, whenever circumstances rendered it necessary to the debtor to

ridgenorth had only retreated to a distant part of the country for a season, to achieve his supposed purpose of marrying Mrs. Deborah, and of letting the news be cold, and the laugh of the neighbourhood be ended, ere he brought her down as mistress of Moultrassie Hall. This rumour died away; and it was then affirmed, that he had removed to foreign parts, to ensure the continuance of health in so delicate a constitution as that of little Alice. But when the Major's dread of Popery was remembered, together

f Dame Dickens the housekeeper, and the other persons engaged - to argue, that the master's eye was not so very far off, but that its occasional inspection might be apprehended. It is true, that neither th

nded, or only accompanied by Ellesmere, or her little boy, had gone down one evening upon a charitable errand to a solitary hut, whose inhabitant lay sick of a fever, which was supposed to be infectious. Lady Peveril never allowed apprehensio

ally as she had a lad about fifteen years old, the son of her patient, to escort her on the way. The distance was better than two miles, but might be considerably abridged by passing through an avenue belonging to the estate of Moultrassie Hall, which she had avoided as she came, not from the ridiculous rumours which pronounced it to be haunted, but because her husband was much displeased when any attempt was made to render the walks of the Castle and Hall common to the in

directed her steps accordingly. But when the peasant-boy, her companion, who had hitherto followed her, whistling cheerily, with a hedge-bill in his hand, and his hat on one side, perceived that she turned to the

ld English na

k in this sequestered avenue, accompanied by a large headless mastiff, which, when he was alive, was a particular favourite of the ex-brewer. To have expected any protection from her escort, in the condition to which superstitious fear had reduced him, would have been truly a hopeless trust; and Lady Peveril, who was not apprehensive of any danger, thought there would be gr

glimmer of a light from one of the numerous casements in the front of Moultrassie Hall, which lay at some distance, was calculated to make them even melancholy. She thought of the fate of that family - of the deceased Mrs. Bridgenorth, with whom she had often walked in this very avenue, and who, though a woman of no high parts or accomplishmen

tal, she had nothing to fear. A marauder on the game was the worst character whom she was likely to encounter; and he would be sure to hide himself from her observation. She advanced, accordingly, steadily; and, as she did so, had the satisfaction to observe that the figure, as she expected, gave place to her, and glided away amongst the trees on the left-hand side of the avenue. As she passed the spot on which the form had been so lately visible, and bethought herself that this wanderer o

nishment and fear; "and if my ear deceiv

id he, "while oppres

. She felt her situation embarrassing; and to divest it of that feeling, as well as ou

r ladyship (so called) her escape from disease and death, is a healthy and thriving girl, as I am given to understand by those in whose charge she is lodged, for I have not lately seen her. And it is even t

said the Lady Peveril; "surely, I could

omorrow, reasons why I dare not appear openly in the neighbourhood of my own property, and wherefore there is

times prudent and cautious - I hope you have been misle

formal observances - little deeming what was the duty of a Christian man, and how far his self-denial ought to extend - even unto his giving all as if he gave nothing. Hence I thought chiefly on carnal things - on the adding of field to field, and wealth to wealth - of balancing betwe

were men who acted avowedly under the influence of such. Lady Peveril, therefore, was more grieved than surprised at the language she heard Major Bridgenorth use, and reasonably concluded that the society and circumstances in which he might lately have been engaged, had blown into a flame the spark of eccentricity which always smouldered in his bosom. This was the more prob

in our pride, to denominate each other - I walk not only in suspicion, but in that degree of danger, that, were your husband to meet me at this instant - me, a native Engli

elt rather anxious to be relieved from his company, and with that purpose walke

hants and time-servers, that he who wears it is not equally ready to stoop to Rome, were he not kept in awe by a few noble spirits in the Commons' House? You believe not this - yet in my

, pharisaical meditations - I brought nothing to the altar save straw and stubble. Heaven saw need to chastise me in love - I was stript of all I clung to on earth - my worldly honour was torn from me - I went forth an exile from the home of my fathers, a deprived and desolate man - a baffled, and beaten, and dishonoured

hand on her arm, and commanded rather than requested her to stop. She obeyed. He pointed to a huge oak, of the largest size, which grew on the summit of a knoll in the open ground which terminated the avenue, and was exactly so placed as to serve for a termination to the vista. The moonshine without the avenue was so strong, that, amidst the flood of light which it poured on the venerable tree, they could easily discover, from the shattered state of the boughs on one side, that it had suffered damage from lightning. "

id, "I blame no man's creed, while I believe and follow my own; and I rejoice that in yours you have sought consolatio

hardened and the dried-up heart is that which can best bear the task imposed by these dismal times. God and man will no longer endure the unbridled profligacy of the dissolut

hough not, I thank Heaven, from observation, I am convinced of the wild debauchery of the times. But let us trust it may be corrected without such violent rem

the destroying angel - the sacrifices offered on the threshing-floor of Araunah, st

an you have adopted in your advanced life the thoughts and language of those

roke off; for they even then came forth into the open light, and it seemed as if, fee

ldom, and only on days of ceremony, carried a walking rapier, though such was the habitual and constant practice of gentlemen of his station in life. There seemed also something of more stern determi

ed to talk - I have already said, that as you have preserved my child from the darkness of the grave, I would will

ll for the present; and when we again meet at a more suitable time, I will at least l

send the young Julian to be bred up in yonder bloody island, under the hand of your kinswoman, that cruel murderess, by whom was done to de

r vindicate the rash action of which she hath been guilty. Nevertheless, in her habitation, it is my husband's opinion and m

o the gigantic pace at which Rome is moving to regain this country, once the richest gem in her usurped tiara? The old are seduced by gold - the youth by plea

inswoman is a Catholic;* but her son is educated in the Church of En

s a deviation from the truth - Charlot

in in the mire of his father? What are your Episcopal tenets but mere Popery? save that ye have chosen a temporal tyrant for your Pope, and substitute a mangled mass in English for that which your predecessors pronounced in Latin. - But why speak I of these things to one w

lady, anxious still to escape from this strange conference, though sc

ce - let me prevent you from a danger still greater. How shall I work upon your unbelieving mind? Shall I tell you that the debt of bloods

dy; "what penalty can be exacted from the Countess, for an action,

he death of such a man as Christian - a man precious alike to heaven and to earth? Not on such terms is the blood of the righteous to be poured f

gue. Bridgenorth listened a moment, and then said, "Forget that you have seen me - name not my name to

rough a gap in the fence, regained the cover o

nd one or two of the foremost made towards her at increased speed, challenging her as they advanced with the cry of "Stand! Who goes there?" The foremost who came up, however, exclaimed, "Mercy on us, if it be not my

it necessary to say aught of having seen Major Bridgenorth; afraid,

dame, to wander about the country like a quacksalver, at the call of every old woman who has

it so," said the lady. "I

n Venner's by a butt's length;* and who should be so deep in it as our old neighbour Bridgenorth? T

the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarch

st he will not be foun

own to Moultrassie, and make strict search, according to my duty; there shall neither rebel nor traitor earth so near Martindale Castle, that I will assure

trust her voice in an attempt to reply, so much was she

ner. He then explained more fully than his haste had before permitted, that an express had come down to Chesterfield, with news from Court of a proposed insurrection amo

nts were recalled, but nothing more was seen or heard of Major Bridgenorth; although it is probable he mig

e purpose of sharing the education of the young Earl of Derby. Although the boding words of Bridgenorth sometimes occurred to Lady Peveril's m

uit of more solid acquirements. In process of time he became a gallant and accomplished youth, and travelled for some time upon the continent with the young Earl. This was the more especially necessary for the enlarging of their acquaintance with t

ian, both the one and the other had profited, in a considerable degree, by the opportunities afforded them. It was Lady Derby's strict injunction to her son, now returning from the continent, that he should not appear at the Court of Charles. But having b

ertain for her the profound respect in which he had been educated), Lord Derby agreed to make a lo

and at the period to which, passing over many years, our story has arrived, as it were, per saltum, they were