tance from the burning ruins, and, as she swayed her tall body to and fro, and covered her haggard features with her hands, the tears oozed from between her skinny fingers, or lingered for a moment upon her white disordered locks before they fell. While her enemy stood before her, she seemed unconscious of the extent of her loss; but now her anger had wasted itself away, and, like the smouldering embers at her feet, left a dull dreadful blank in the place, where before was at least a portion of comfort.

Around her was the wide waste of heath and bog; and beyond these, the dark outline of the forest. The only living figures in the desolate landscape were, herself and the dwarf, the latter leaning upon his massy club and watching the last curling of the white smoke, as it rose with a fainter streak in the calm sunshine.

Elwerwolf was not one of those to shed tears for the mere loss of her worldly goods; these were the last thoughts that passed through her mind. It was her associations with the spot on which she had dwelt for threescore years, until every patch of heath, and every gloomy flag that waved along the damp marish, had become

interwoven with herself. They were things that she had so long gazed upon; that, however greatly they might be despised by others, to her, at least, they brought pleasant remembrances, albeit, mingled with a sadness, in which there was sometimes peace.

Even the eyes of Druth wandered over the naked space, and his ears drank in the mournful sound of a melancholy stream, which had made the same sad music around his home in bygone years; when his greatest delight was to chase the water-fowl among the reeds, or seek the silent haunts of the wild forest.

"Mother, why weepest thou?" said the dwarf, first breaking the silence which had reigned between them, since the departure of the horsemen.

"Why askest thou? have I no cause for grief, my son," said she, in a sorrowful voice; "have these wilds been so long familiar to my sight, trowest thou, that I can depart from them without a tear. Even the donjon at length becomes endeared to the captive, and he would at last fain leave his bones in the fetters, that have almost become a part of himself."

Nay, an' thou thinkest so deeply of these

things," replied Druth, "thou wilt tempt me to hasten and accomplish that, which but now thine own arm prevented me from doing. We will soon erect thee another hut, even here, where thou hast so long dwelt. Not a forester but will be eager to assist us, when he hears of thy misfortune."

"That you may do, my son," answered she, in a mournful voice; " but, alas! it can never be the one in which I have dwelt. The very chinks that time had made in its wind-battered walls, were dear to me; every crevice in which the sunbeams beat, brought soothing remembrances to my heart, that never left me all alone; the very smoke that had blackened the rafters, brought back the tongues of other days to my ears, a language of past ages, that seemed to babble beside my hearth, nor left me altogether desolate. I lived but upon the food of memory." And the old woman again buried her face in her hands, and bowed her aged head in sorrow; while a tear stole down the cheek of the dwarf as he watched her emotions; but he dashed it aside in an instant, as if ashamed of having yielded to such weakness, and grasped his cudgel with a tighter hand,

and soothed his thoughts with the hopes of future revenge.

"Druth," continued she, "the very consciousness that such things are no more, give me pain. The wide rents which admitted the winds of heaven, served to remind me of happier scenes, and happier days; from them, have I many a time gazed upon thy form, which, however it might be despised by others, was ever dear to mine eyes. When thou didst first appear on the verge of the forest, bringing with thee some beast of the chase, the broken boards on the East shewed that thou wert drawing nigh. When thou didst wander amid the dangerous swamp, where nought human, beside thyself, dared then to tread; where only the bittern boomed and the wild-duck reared her young, even then I could trace thy form among the bending rushes. And when thou hast left me from sunrise, and never gladdened mine eyes until his setting, the last beams that gilded my roof-tree, told that thou wouldst come. Even when I resigned thee, as a vassal to the Norman, who has this day destroyed my dwelling, I knew that thou wouldst serve the rightful heir

of these lands, while thou didst seem to be doing the bidding of his plunderer."

"Mother, thou hast struck a chord on which comfort yet lingers," answered the dwarf," and it shall go hard, but I will requite him for this deed. But something must be done in the meantime for thyself, at least, until we can erect thee another dwelling-place." While he was yet speaking a noble stag-hound approached; and, with a familiarity which told that they were not strangers to each other, began to climb up to the dwarf's face, and lick his cheeks and hands, with other signs of doggish affection. Another hound also appeared, and having thrust his long snout into the hand of Elwerwolf, seemed to gaze with a knowing look upon the ruins of the hut, as if he was aware of some sudden change, yet at a loss to discover in what it consisted.

Presently a stout powerful man appeared with a bow in his hand, and a sheaf of arrows by his side, while a fawn, which was still bleeding, was slung across his shoulders and secured by a belt. His dress was a green doublet, extending to about the same length, or