vent the old woman from relapsing into her lethargy, again pressed her on the subject of the communication which she proposed to make to him.

"Ye will have it sune eneugh," she replied; 66 my mind's clear eneugh now, and there is not-I think there is nota chance of my forgetting what I have to say. My dwelling at Craigburnfoot is before my een, as it were present in reality -the green bank, with its selvidge, just where the burn met wi' the sea-the twa little barks, wi' their sails furled, lying in the natural cove which it formed-the high cliff that joined it with the pleasure-grounds of the house of Glenallan, and hung right ower the stream-Ah! yes-I may forget that I had a husband and have lost him-that I hae but ane alive of our four fair sons—that misfortune upon misfortune has devoured our ill-gotten wealth-that they carried the corpse of my son's eldest-born frae the house this morning-But I never can forget the days I spent at bonny Craigburnfoot!" "You were a favourite of my mother," said Lord Glenallan, desirous to bring her back to the point, from which she was wandering.

"I was, I was—ye needna mind me o' that. She brought me up abune my station, and wi' knowledge mair than my fellows-but, like the tempter of auld, wi' the knowledge of gude she taught me the knowledge of evil."

"For God's sake, Elspeth," said the astonished Earl, "proceed, if you can, to explain the dreadful hints you have thrown out! I well know you are confidante to one dreadful secret, which should split this roof even to hear it named-but speak on farther."

"I will," she said "I will-just bear wi' me for a little;" -and again she seemed lost in recollection, but it was no longer tinged with imbecility or apathy. She was now entering upon the topic which had long loaded her mind, and which doubtless often occupied her whole soul at times when she seemed dead to all around her. And I may add, as a remarkable fact, that such was the intense operation of mental energy upon her physical powers and nervous system, that, notwithstanding her infirmity of deafness, each word that Lord Glenallan spoke during this remarkable conference, although in the lowest tone of horror or agony, fell as full and distinct upon Elspeth's ear as it could have done at any period of her life. She spoke also herself clearly, distinctly, and slowly, as if anxious that the intelligence she communicated

should be fully understood; concisely at the same time, and with none of the verbiage or circumlocutory additions natural to those of her sex and condition. In short, her language bespoke a better education, as well as an uncommonly firm and resolved mind, and a character of that sort from which great virtues or great crimes may be naturally expected. The tenor of her communication is disclosed in the following chapter.

CHAPTER XXXIII

Remorse-she ne'er forsakes us

A bloodhound stanch-she tracks our rapid step
Through the wild labyrinth of youthful frenzy,
Unheard, perchance, until old age hath tamed us;
Then in our lair, when Time hath chill'd our joints,
And maim'd our hope of combat, or of flight,
We hear her deep-mouth'd bay, announcing all
Of wrath and woe and punishment that bides us.
Old Play.

"I NEED not tell you," said the old woman, addressing the Earl of Glenallan, "that I was the favourite and confidential attendant of Joscelind, Countess of Glenallan, whom God assoilzie!" (here she crossed herself)-" and, I think farther, ye may not have forgotten, that I shared her regard for mony years. I returned it by the maist sincere attachment, but I fell into disgrace frae a trifling act of disobedience, reported to your mother by ane that thought, and she wasna wrang, that I was a spy upon her actions and yours."

"I charge thee, woman," said the Earl, in a voice trembling with passion, name not her name in my hearing." "I MUST," returned the penitent firmly and calmly, or how can you understand me?"

The Earl leaned upon one of the wooden chairs of the hut, drew his hat over his face, clenched his hands together, set his teeth like one who summons up courage to undergo a painful operation, and made a signal to her to proceed.

"I say then," she resumed, "that my disgrace with my mistress was chiefly owing to Miss Eveline Neville, then bred up in Glenallan House as the daughter of a cousin-german and intimate friend of your father that was gane. There was muckle mystery in her history, but wha dared to enquire farther than the Countess liked to tell ?-All in Glenallan

House loved Miss Neville-all but twa-your mother and mysell-we baith hated her.”

"God! for what reason, since a creature so mild, so gentle, so formed to inspire affection, never walked on this wretched world?"

"It may hae been sae," rejoined Elspeth, "but your mother hated a' that cam of your father's family-a' but himsell. Her reasons related to strife which fell between them soon after her marriage; the particulars are naething to this purpose. But, oh! doubly did she hate Eveline Neville when she perceived that there was a growing kindness atween you and that unfortunate young leddy! Ye may mind that the Countess's dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o' the cauld shouther—at least it wasna seen farther: but at the lang run it brak out into such downright violence that Miss Neville was even fain to seek refuge at Knockwinnock Castle with Sir Arthur's leddy, wha (God sain her) was then wi' the living."

"You rend my heart by recalling these particulars. But go on, and may my present agony be accepted as additional penance for the involuntary crime!"

"She had been absent some months," continued Elspeth, "when I was ae night watching in my hut the return of my husband from fishing, and shedding in private those bitter tears that my proud spirit wrung frae me whenever I thought on my disgrace. The sneck was drawn, and the Countess, your mother, entered my dwelling. I thought I had seen a spectre, for, even in the height of my favour, this was an honour she had never done me, and she looked as pale and ghastly as if she had risen from the grave. She sate down and wrung the draps from her hair and cloak, for the night was drizzling, and her walk had been through the plantations, that were a' loaded with dew. I only mention these things that you may understand how weel that night lives in my memory —and weel it may. I was surprised to see her, but I durstna speak first, mair than if I had seen a phantom-Na, I durst not, my lord, I that hae seen mony sights of terror, and never shook at them. Sae, after a silence, she said, 'Elspeth Cheyne (for she always gave me my maiden name), are not ye the daughter of that Reginald Cheyne, who died to save his master, Lord Glenallan, on the field of Sheriffmuir?' And I answered her as proudly as hersell nearly-'As sure as you are the daughter of that Earl of Glenallan whom my father saved that day by his own death.'"

Here she made a deep pause.

"And what followed ?-what followed?-For Heaven's sake, good woman- -But why should I use that word?— Yet, good or bad, I command you to tell me."

66

"And little I should value earthly command," answered Elspeth, were there not a voice that has spoken to me sleeping and waking, that drives me forward to tell this sad tale.-Aweel, my lord-the Countess said to me, 'My son loves Eveline Neville-they are agreed-they are plighted;should they have a son, my right over Glenallan merges-I sink, from that moment, from a Countess into a miserable stipendiary dowager-I who brought lands and vassals, and high blood and ancient fame, to my husband, I must cease to be mistress when my son has an heir-male. But I care not for that—had he married any but one of the hated Nevilles, I had been patient. But for them-that they and their descendants should enjoy the right and honours of my ancestors, goes through my heart like a two-edged dirk. And this girl-I detest her!'And I answered, for my heart kindled at her words, that her hate was equalled by mine."

"Wretch !" exclaimed the Earl, in spite of his determination to preserve silence,-" Wretched woman! what cause of hate could have arisen from a being so innocent and gentle?" "I hated what my mistress hated, as was the use with the liege vassals of the house of Glenallan; for though, my lord, I married under my degree, yet an ancestor of yours never went to the field of battle, but an ancestor of the frail, demented, auld, useless wretch wha now speaks with you, carried his shield before him. But that was not a'," continued the beldam, her earthly and evil passions rekindling as she became heated in her narration ; "that was not a'-I hated Miss Eveline Neville for her ain sake-I brought her frae England, and, during our whole journey, she gecked and scorned at my northern speech and habit, as her southland leddies and kimmers had done at the boarding-school as they ca'd it" (and, strange as it may seem, she spoke of an affront offered by a heedless schoolgirl without intention, with a degree of inveteracy, which, at such a distance of time, a mortal offence would neither have authorised or excited in any well-constituted mind)" Yes, she scorned and jested at me--but let them that scorn the tartan fear the dirk!"

She paused, and then went on. hated her mair than she deserved.

"But I deny not that I My mistress, the Countess,

persevered, and said, 'Elspeth Cheyne, this unruly boy will marry with the false English blood-were days as they have been, I could throw her into the Massymore1 of Glenallan, and fetter him in the Keep of Strathbonnel. But these times are past, and the authority which the nobles of the land should exercise is delegated to quibbling lawyers and their baser dependants. Hear me, Elspeth Cheyne! If you are your father's daughter as I am mine, I will find means that they shall not marry. She walks often to that cliff that overhangs your dwelling to look for her lover's boat-(ye may remember the pleasure ye then took on the sea, my lord)-let him find her forty fathom lower than he expects !'-Yes! ye may stare and frown and clench your hand, but, as sure as I am to face the only Being I ever feared—and oh that I had feared Him mair!-these were your mother's words-What avails it to me to lie to you?-But I wadna consent to stain my hand with blood. Then she said, 'By the religion of our holy Church they are ower sibb thegither.-But I expect nothing but that both will become heretics as well as disobedient reprobates,' that was her addition to that argument. And then, as the fiend is ever ower busy wi' brains like mine, that are subtle beyond their use and station, I was unhappily permitted to add-'But they might be brought to think themselves sae sibb as no Christian law will permit their wedlock.'"

Here the Earl of Glenallan echoed her words with a shriek so piercing, as almost to rend the roof of the cottage-"Ah! then Eveline Neville was not the-the-”

"The daughter, ye would say, of your father?" continued Elspeth; "No-be it a torment or be it a comfort to youken the truth, she was nae mair a daughter of your father's house than I am."

"Woman, deceive me not-make me not curse the memory of the parent I have so lately laid in the grave, for sharing in a plot the most cruel, the most infernal

66 Bethink ye, my Lord Geraldin, ere ye curse the memory of a parent that's gane, is there none of the blood of Glenallan living, whose faults have led to this dreadfu' catastrophe?"

"Mean you my brother ?-he, too, is gone," said the Earl. "No," replied the sibyl, "I mean yoursell, Lord Geraldin. Had you not transgressed the obedience of a son by wedding Eveline Neville in secret while a guest at Knockwinnock, our

1 Massa-mora, an ancient name for a dungeon, derived from the Moorish language, perhaps as far back as the time of the Crusades.