The Last Of The Barons, Volume 12.

. Happy and lifeless mechanism, which moves, and toils, and strives on, to change the destiny of millions, but hath neither ear nor eye, nor sense nor heart,-the avenues of pain to man! S

It is not true, not true. Heaven bless thee! thou art come!" But sudden as the movement was the recoil. Drawing her

red the nobleman

swers not, he falter

I am wedded

an ashen whiteness; the lips, too, grew tightly compressed, and her small fingers, interlaced, were clasped with strained and convulsive energy, so that the quivering of the

ation of my early dream returned; reverse and exile followed close; Katherine left her state, her fortunes, her native land, and followed the banished man; and so memory and gratitude and destiny concurred, and the mistress of my youth became my wife. None other could have replaced thy image; none other have made me forget the faith I pledged thee. The thought of thee has still pursued me,- will pursue me to the last. I dare not say now that I love thee still, but yet-" He paused, but r

ride,-mild and forgiving, yet still spirited and firm,-which belonged to her character, she nerved herself to the last and saddest effort to preserve dignity a

thy destiny must haunt me till thou hast cho

s the virginity of the soul still left? Do the tears I have shed for thee; doth the thrill of my heart when I heard thy voice; doth the plighted kiss that burns, burns now into my brow, and on my lips,-do these, these leave me free to carry to a new affection the cinders and ashes of a soul thou hast ravaged and deflowered? Oh, coarse and rude belief of men, that naught is lost if the mere form be pure! The fres

proach; the words escaped me,-think of them no more. I would fain, at least, part from you now as I had once hoped to part from you at the last hour of life,-without one memory of bitterness and anger, so that my conscience, whatever its other griefs, might say, 'My lips never belied my heart, my words never pained him!' And now then, Lord Hastings, in all charity, we part. Farewell forever, and forever! Thou hast wedded one who loves thee, doubtless, as tenderly as I had done. Ah, cherish that

how should I weary Heaven to repair, by countless blessings, the wrong which I have done thee!

rd he was acco

been fran

hav

bears i

"Question me no more." There was a long silence. They quitted the precincts of the Tower, and were at the river-side. Hastings, waving his hand to Alwy

yll and her father? If we fail and Warwick returns, they are protected

se, their present hom

army of York was on its march. Gloucester, to whose vigilance and energy were left the final preparations, was necessarily the last of the generals to quit the city. A

sts which now creep over the earth shall last through the night and the early morrow; and if he deceive us not, we may post our men so as to elude the hostile artillery. But, sith the friar is so noted and influential, and sith there is a strong fancy that the winds which have driven back Margaret obeyed his charm, the soldiers clamour out for him to attend us, and

e duchess. "Friar Bungey is, indeed, a potent man. I will win h

d Edward's previous defeat and flight (together with the diabolical invention, in which all the malice and strength of his sorcery were centred),-might, according to Jacquetta's former promise, be delivered forthwith to his mercy, and accompany him to the very spot where he was to dispel and counteract the Lancastrian nigromancer's enchantments. The duchess, too glad to purchase the friar's acqui

h the friar himself, followed by a covered wagon, whic

amber which Hastings had abandoned to her solitary woe, had passed

ght have arisen from its uncouth appearance, the poor philosopher had sought now to give it a gracious and imposing appearance. He had painted and gilt it wi

id Adam; "is it not b

s, I have too much forgotten thee; pardon me, if so. Henceforth, I have no care in life but thee; henceforth let me ever, when thou toilest, come

itself on his bosom. Gazing thereon mournfully, he said, "Some new grief hath chanced to thee,

rd Hastings is wedded to another! But see, I can smile still, I am calm

rld out of earth again. Though he could bring no comfort, there was somethin

d at intervals the walls of their chamber, and gave a glow to the gay gilding and bright hues of the gaudy model. Yet those torches flickered round the litter that was to

aint aspect. Steps and voices, and the clatter of arms, sounded in the yard, on the stairs, in the adjoining chamb

u, Master Sergeant, to bear this piece of the foul fiend's cunning devising. Ho, ho

nd protecting arms. A supernatural strength, inspired by a kind of superstition that no harm could chance to him while she was by, animated her slight form; and fierce though the soldiers were, they shrun

. "Tear him from me, and if King Edward win the day, Lord Hastings shall hav

ector of her father! He resolved, therefore, on the instant, to take Sibyll as well as her father; and if the fortune of the day allowed him to rid himself of Warner, a good occasion might equally occur to dispose forever of the testimony of Sibyll. He had already formed a cunning calculation in desiring Warner's company; for

g it, he may be none the worse for the journey he must take; and if thou likest to go with him, there's r

he instinctively followed the bearers. Sibyll, relieved by the thought that, for weal or for woe, she should, at least, share her father

us vehicle,-it served as a barrier

s incantations. The captives answered not his address, but nestled close to each other, interchanging, at intervals, words of comfort, and recoiling as far as possible from the ex-tregetour, who,

of the friar. The rumbling groan of the vehicle, the tramp of the soldiers, the dull rattle of their arms, with now and then the neigh of some knight's steed in the distance, were the only sounds that broke