The Black Dwarf

ock upon the l

arrenness, some

April dew, o

lichen freshe

rt, most sear’d

ar, joys in the

au

at intervals with the cheer of the hunters, and the sound of horns blown by the attendants. The Recluse was about to retire into his mansion at the sight of a train so joyous, when three young ladies, with their attendants, who had made a circuit, and detached themselves from their party, in order to gratify their curiosity by a sight of the Wise Wight of Mucklestane-Moor, came suddenly up, ere he could eff

ur party have gone forward without us,” said the young lady. “Seeing

n the consciousness of your own youth, wealth, and beauty, by contrasting them with age, poverty, and def

now my parents, a

have crossed my waking eyes, bu

r dr

st thou, or thine, to do

mpanions, with a sort of mock gravity, “are fixed, doubtless,

ally than became a philosopher or hermit, “folly

d the lady, “he’s a

en caught, successively thrown away — a chase, pursued from the days of tottering infancy to those of old age upon his crutches. Toys and merry-makings in childhood — love and its absurdities in youth — spadille and basto in age, shall s

f Miss Vere’s; “that’s something, Nancy,” she continued, turning to the ti

he, drawing back; “I hav

oney to the Dwarf, “I’ll pay for mine, as if

be bought nor sold;” and he pushed back h

keep my money, Mr. Elshender, to as

sued.— Stop!” he said to Miss Vere, as her companions moved off, “With you I have more to say. You have w

ions, father; I am proof both t

I have detailed, all and each of them have their corresponding evils — unsuccessful love, crossed affections, the gloom of a convent

ny respects, exposes you to the suspicions of the vulgar, which are too apt to break out into actions of brutality. Let me think I have mended the lot of one human being! Accept of such assistance as I have power to

n voice, and almost without addre

s wet my eyelids for many a year; for that good deed receive this token of gratitude. It is but a common rose; preserve it, however, and do not part with it. Come to me in your hour of adversity. Show me that rose, or but one leaf of it, were it withered as my heart is — if it should be in my fiercest and wildest movements of rage against a hateful w

extraordinary nature of his address would permit, often turning back to look at the Dwarf, who still remained at the door of his habitatio

! Her hawk strikes down the black-cock; her eyes wound the gallant; no chance for her poor companions and kinswomen; even the conjuror cannot escape the force of her charm

ied Miss Vere, “and the conjuro

Miss Ilderton, “to supply deficiencies;

frightful a monster? I kept my eyes shut, after once glancing at him; and, I

take him myself, I suppose, and put him into mamma’s Japan cabinet, in order to show that Scotland can produce a specimen of mortal clay moulded

he has no resources, how is he to exist in this waste country, living, as he does, at such a distance from mankind? and if he has the means of securing occ

hey say he is a warloc

enormous head, and most preternatural visage, out at his door or window, full in view of the assailants. The boldest robber that

pose, Lucy?”

th your father, and so little a favourite of yours. I protest I shall be obliged to the Wizard as long as I live, if it wer

sister, who rode before them, the narrow path not admitting of their moving all three abreast,—”

ee times, each louder than another, t

d say then, nineteen na

anner in which the nay-says are said. Mine should hav

said Miss Vere, “were

were he the most cruel father that ever was r

you with a catholic aunt,

aring, let me really say, I think you would be excusable before God and man for resisting this preposterous match by every means in your power. A proud, dark, ambitious man; a c

such advice,” said Miss Vere, “or adie

ed under some kinder protector than he whom nature has given you. O, if my poor father had been in his former healt

in your father’s weak state of health, he would be altogether unable to protect me

nge faces which appear and disappear without being announced by their names, from the collecting and cleaning of arms, and the anxious gloom and bustle which seem to agitate every male in the castle, it may not be impossible for us (alwa

Nan

e plotters in Venice Preserved . No; this is a Jaffier, or Pierre, if you like the character better; and yet though I know I shall please you, I am afraid to mention his name

arnscliff, Lucy?” said M

nd Pierres are very scarce in this country, I take i

onsent, without which I never will marry any one, and which, in the case you point at, would never be granted; independent, too, of our kno

ther to son, like a Spanish game at chess, and a murder or two committed in every generation, just to keep the matter from going to sleep. We do with our quarrels nowadays as with our

too lightly, Lucy,

ns, subsequent alliances were so far from being excluded, that the hand of a daughter or a sister was the most frequent gage of reconciliation. You laugh at my skill in romance; but, I assure you, should your history b

ance, but of sad reality, for ther

he ladies from their palfreys. I would as lief touch a toad; I will disa

ntered on, and jumped into the arms of the old groom. Fain would Isabella have done the same had she dared; but her father stood near, displeasure already dark