The Last Of The Barons, Volume 9.

the hall, and their only light came through the door opening on the garden,-a gray, indistinct twilight, relieved by the few earliest stars. The peacock, his head under his wing, roosted on

of young herb and leaf; through the calm of ever-watchful nature, it seemed as if you mi

d saw something dusk and dwarf-like perched upon the crumbling eminence. Presently this apparition leaped lightly into the ga

Madge, rising. "W

apping their hands now at the thoughts of the bonfire. Father and all the neighbours are getting ready. Hark! hark! No, it is only the wind! The tymbesteres are to give note. When you hear their bells tinkle,

er," exclaimed Madge,

bent over me, while I kicked and screamed, and the poor gentleman said, 'Thinkest thou I would harm thee?' But he'll forgive me now, will he not? And when I turned the seething water over myself, and they said it was all along of the wizard, my heart pained more than the arm. But they whip me, and groan out that the devil is i

" sobbed Sibyll, clasping the boy in her arms, a

at and cloak thrown on in haste. "What is this?" said the poor scholar. "Can it be tru

the presence of the old man into energy and courage. "But put thy hand o

zed those meek, sweet eyes, his superstition vanished, and it was but a holy and grateful awe that th

Scarcely had the prayer ceased when the clash of timbrels, with their jingling bells, was heard in the street. Once

the boy, turning

d's child!" exclaimed Adam, su

u couldst not lift it. Think of thine own flesh and blood, of thy daught

. What matters my life, -it is but the servan

or perish, your fate is mine! Another minute-Oh, H

ron cannot feel. They will not touch that! H

! Come!" said Warner, consc

her father went forth; the fields stretched before them calm and solitary; the boy l

Madge. Come!"

ht but burthen ye. I will stay, and perchance save the house and the chattels, and poor maste

ained of the king's gift into the gipsire Sibyll wore at her girdle

ve her," said the

rd the tramping of feet; suddenly, a dark red light shot up

zard, who would starve the poor!" yelled

ionless, Sibyl

hrieked a sharp single voice, th

it sward. The father had lost all thought, all care but for the daughter's life. They paused at last, out of breath and exhausted: the sounds at the distance were lulled and hushed. They looked towards the direct

hath no lore. On her gray hairs has fallen

ispersed. But they may search yet for thee. Lean on me, I am strong

ding into life, were at hand. On they fled. The deer started from amidst the entangled fern, but stood and gazed at them without fear; the playful hares in the green alleys ceased not their nightly sp

orth, "Death to the wizard!" Amidst the sordid dresses of the men, the soiled and faded tinsel of the tymbesteres gleamed and sparkled. It was a scene the she-fiends revelled in,-dear are outrage and malice, and the excitement of turb

this place, as the stronghold of the mansion, whatever portable articles seemed to her most precious, either from value or association. Sibyll's gittern (Marmaduke's gift) lay amidst a lumber of tools and implements; a faded robe of her dead mother's, treasured by Madge and Sibyll both, as a relic of holy love; a few platters and cups of pewter, the pride

red round in superstitiou

he tymbesteres

where the bonny maid who glamours l

ave gone hours ago! I am alone

nquiet eyes. And, indeed, poor Madge, with her wrinkled face, bony form, and high cap, corresponded far more with

mp-backed tinker; "if we were to try a dip i

cried several voices at

on't care what becomes of the wizard,-every one knows," he added with pride, "that I was one of the fir

s on the model, and, at her shrill command, the men advanced and dislodged it from its place. At the same tine the other tymbesteres, caught by the sight of things pleasing to their

to the relief of his virago; and rendered furious by finding ten nails fastened suddenly on his face, he struck down the poor creature by a blow that stunned her, seized her in his arms,-for deformed and weakly as the tinker was, the old woman, now sense and spirit were gone, was as light as skin and bone could be,-and followed by half a score of his comrades, whooping and laughing, bore her down the stairs. Tim's father, who, whether from parental affection, or, as is more probable, from the jealous hatred and prejudice of ignorant industry, was bent upon Adam's destructi

iver, dyke

er drowns

izard woul

swim, is

ing her, onc

wing her o'

a-twice a

ther, sink

mour and clattering timbrels, there was a splash in the sullen water; the green

s not even struggle!" said, at

water. Try fire! Out with h

, and let it fall upon the margin. "Dead!" said the baker, shuddering; "we have done wrong,

mpbacked tinker; "and if she was not a witch, why

econdly, the blast of a clarion at the distance, while up the street marched-horse and foot, with pike and banner-a goodly troop. The Lord Hastings in person led a royal force, by a night march, against a fresh outbreak of the rebels, not ten miles from the city, under Sir Geoffrey Gates, who had been lately arrested by the Lord Howard at Southampton, escap

d unite as for counsel. Graul, pointing to Mr. Sancroft's hostelry, whispered the bearers of the Eureka to seek refuge there for the present, and to bear their trop

ng battle?" said t

" answered t

ce noon,-I am faint and wea

ck her comrade on the cheek-"Faint and wear

en, obedient to a sign from their chieftainess, they crept lightly and rapidly into the mouth of a neighbouring alley, where they cowered by the squalid huts, concealed. The troop passed on,-a gallant and serried band, horse and foot, about fifteen hundred men. As they filed up the thoroughfare, and the tramp