Peveril of the Peak Page 14

  CHAPTER XIV

  This day at least is friendship's--on the morrow Let strife come an she will. --OTWAY.

  Deborah Debbitch, summoned by her master, now made her appearance, withher handkerchief at her eyes, and an appearance of great mental trouble."It was not my fault, Major Bridgenorth," she said; "how could I helpit? like will to like--the boy would come--the girl would see him."

  "Peace, foolish woman," said Bridgenorth, "and hear what I have got tosay."

  "I know what your honour has to say well enough," said Deborah."Service, I wot, is no inheritance nowadays--some are wiser than othersome--if I had not been wheedled away from Martindale, I might have hada house of mine own by this time."

  "Peace, idiot!" said Bridgenorth; but so intent was Deborah on hervindication, that he could but thrust the interjection, as it wereedgewise, between her exclamations, which followed as thick as is usualin cases, where folks endeavour to avert deserved censure by a clamorousjustification ere the charge be brought.

  "No wonder she was cheated," she said, "out of sight of her owninterest, when it was to wait on pretty Miss Alice. All your honour'sgold should never have tempted me, but that I knew she was but a deadcastaway, poor innocent, if she were taken away from my lady or me.--Andso this is the end on't!--up early, and down late--and this is all mythanks!--But your honour had better take care what you do--she has theshort cough yet sometimes--and should take physic, spring and fall."

  "Peace, chattering fool!" said her master, so soon as her failing breathgave him an opportunity to strike in, "thinkest thou I knew not ofthis young gentleman's visits to the Black Fort, and that, if they haddispleased me, I would not have known how to stop them?"

  "Did I know that your honour knew of his visits!" exclaimed Deborah, ina triumphant tone,--for, like most of her condition, she neversought farther for her defence than a lie, however inconsistent andimprobable--"_Did_ I know that your honour knew of it!--Why, how shouldI have permitted his visits else? I wonder what your honour takes mefor! Had I not been sure it was the thing in this world that your honourmost desired would I have presumed to lend it a hand forward? I trustI know my duty better. Hear if I ever asked another youngster intothe house, save himself--for I knew your honour was wise, and quarrelscannot last for ever, and love begins where hatred ends; and, to besure, they love as if they were born one for the other--and then, theestates of Moultrassie and Martindale suit each other like sheath andknife."

  "Parrot of a woman, hold your tongue!" said Bridgenorth, his patiencealmost completely exhausted; "or, if you will prate, let it be toyour playfellows in the kitchen, and bid them get ready some dinnerpresently, for Master Peveril is far from home."

  "That I will, and with all my heart," said Deborah; "and if there area pair of fatter fowls in Man than shall clap their wings on the tablepresently, your honour shall call me goose as well as parrot." She thenleft the apartment.

  "It is to such a woman as that," said Bridgenorth, looking after hersignificantly, "that you conceived me to have abandoned the charge ofmy only child! But enough of this subject--we will walk abroad, if youwill, while she is engaged in a province fitter for her understanding."

  So saying, he left the house, accompanied by Julian Peveril, and theywere soon walking side by side, as if they had been old acquaintances.

  It may have happened to many of our readers, as it has done toourselves, to be thrown by accident into society with some individualwhose claims to what is called a _serious_ character stand considerablyhigher than our own, and with whom, therefore, we have conceivedourselves likely to spend our time in a very stiff and constrainedmanner; while, on the other hand, our destined companion may haveapprehended some disgust from the supposed levity and thoughtless gaietyof a disposition that when we, with that urbanity and good-humourwhich is our principal characteristic, have accommodated ourself to ourcompanion, by throwing as much seriousness into our conversation as ourhabits will admit, he, on the other hand, moved by our liberalexample, hath divested his manners of part of their austerity; and ourconversation has, in consequence, been of that pleasant texture, betwixtthe useful and agreeable, which best resembles "the fairy-web of nightand day," usually called in prose the twilight. It is probableboth parties may, on such occasions, have been the better for theirencounter, even if it went no farther than to establish for the time acommunity of feeling between men, who, separated more perhaps bytemper than by principle, are too apt to charge each other with profanefrivolity on the one hand, or fanaticism on the other.

  It fared thus in Peveril's walk with Bridgenorth, and in theconversation which he held with him.

  Carefully avoiding the subject on which he had already spoken, MajorBridgenorth turned his conversation chiefly on foreign travel, and onthe wonders he had seen in distant countries, and which he appeared tohave marked with a curious and observant eye. This discourse made thetime fly light away; for although the anecdotes and observations thuscommunicated were all tinged with the serious and almost gloomy spiritof the narrator, they yet contained traits of interest and of wonder,such as are usually interesting to a youthful ear, and were particularlyso to Julian, who had, in his disposition, some cast of the romantic andadventurous.

  It appeared that Bridgenorth knew the south of France, and could tellmany stories of the French Huguenots, who already began to sustain thosevexations which a few years afterwards were summed up by the revocationof the Edict of Nantz. He had even been in Hungary, for he spoke as frompersonal knowledge of the character of several of the heads of the greatProtestant insurrection, which at this time had taken place under thecelebrated Tekeli; and laid down solid reasons why they were entitled tomake common cause with the Great Turk, rather than submit to the Popeof Rome. He talked also of Savoy, where those of the reformed religionstill suffered a cruel persecution; and he mentioned with a swellingspirit, the protection which Oliver had afforded to the oppressedProtestant Churches; "therein showing himself," he added, "more fitto wield the supreme power, than those who, claiming it by right ofinheritance, use it only for their own vain and voluptuous pursuits."

  "I did not expect," said Peveril modestly, "to have heard Oliver'spanegyric from you, Master Bridgenorth."

  "I do not panegyrise him," answered Bridgenorth; "I speak but truth ofthat extraordinary man, now being dead, whom, when alive, I feared notto withstand to his face. It is the fault of the present unhappy King,if he make us look back with regret to the days when the nation wasrespected abroad, and when devotion and sobriety were practised athome.--But I mean not to vex your spirit by controversy. You havelived amongst those who find it more easy and more pleasant to be thepensioners of France than her controllers--to spend the money whichshe doles out to themselves, than to check the tyranny with which sheoppresses our poor brethren of the religion. When the scales shall fallfrom thine eyes, all this thou shalt see; and seeing, shalt learn todetest and despise it."

  By this time they had completed their walk, and were returned to theBlack Fort, by a different path from that which had led them up thevalley. The exercise and the general tone of conversation had removed,in some degree, the shyness and embarrassment which Peveril originallyfelt in Bridgenorth's presence and which the tenor of his first remarkshad rather increased than diminished. Deborah's promised banquet wassoon on the board; and in simplicity as well as neatness and good order,answered the character she had claimed for it. In one respect alone,there seemed some inconsistency, perhaps a little affectation. Mostof the dishes were of silver, and the plates were of the same metal;instead of the trenchers and pewter which Peveril had usually seenemployed on similar occasions at the Black Fort.

  Presently, with the feeling of one who walks in a pleasant dream fromwhich he fears to awake, and whose delight is mingled with wonder andwith uncertainty, Julian Peveril found himself seated between AliceBridgenorth and her father--the being he most loved on earth, andthe person whom he had ever consid
ered as the great obstacle to theirintercourse. The confusion of his mind was such, that he could scarcelyreply to the importunate civilities of Dame Deborah; who, seated withthem at table in her quality of governante, now dispensed the goodthings which had been prepared under her own eye.

  As for Alice she seemed to have found a resolution to play the mute; forshe answered not, excepting briefly, to the questions of Dame Debbitch;nay, even when her father, which happened once or twice, attempted tobring her forward in the conversation, she made no further reply thanrespect for him rendered absolutely necessary.

  Upon Bridgenorth himself, then, devolved the task of entertaining thecompany; and contrary to his ordinary habits, he did not seem to shrinkfrom it. His discourse was not only easy, but almost cheerful, thoughever and anon crossed by some expressions indicative of natural andhabitual melancholy, or prophetic of future misfortune and woe. Flashesof enthusiasm, too, shot along his conversation, gleaming like thesheet-lightening of an autumn eve, which throws a strong, thoughmomentary illumination, across the sober twilight, and all thesurrounding objects, which, touched by it, assume a wilder and morestriking character. In general, however, Bridgenorth's remarks wereplain and sensible; and as he aimed at no graces of language, anyornament which they received arose out of the interest with which theywere impressed on his hearers. For example, when Deborah, in the prideand vulgarity of her heart, called Julian's attention to the platefrom which they had been eating, Bridgenorth seemed to think an apologynecessary for such superfluous expense.

  "It was a symptom," he said, "of approaching danger, when such men, aswere not usually influenced by the vanities of life employed much moneyin ornaments composed of the precious metals. It was a sign that themerchant could not obtain a profit for the capital, which, for the sakeof security, he invested in this inert form. It was a proof that thenoblemen or gentlemen feared the rapacity of power, when they puttheir wealth into forms the most portable and the most capable of beinghidden; and it showed the uncertainty of credit, when a man of judgmentpreferred the actual possession of a mass of a silver to the convenienceof a goldsmith's or a banker's receipt. While a shadow of libertyremained," he said, "domestic rights were last invaded; and, therefore,men disposed upon their cupboards and tables the wealth which in theseplaces would remain longest, though not perhaps finally, sacred from thegrasp of a tyrannical government. But let there be a demand for capitalto support a profitable commerce, and the mass is at once consignedto the furnace, and, ceasing to be a vain and cumbrous ornament of thebanquet, becomes a potent and active agent for furthering the prosperityof the country."

  "In war, too," said Peveril, "plate has been found a ready resource."

  "But too much so," answered Bridgenorth. "In the late times, the plateof the nobles and gentry, with that of the colleges, and the sale ofthe crown-jewels, enabled the King to make his unhappy stand, whichprevented matters returning to a state of peace and good order,until the sword had attained an undue superiority both over King andParliament."

  He looked at Julian as he spoke, much as he who proves a horse offerssome object suddenly to his eyes, then watches to see if he starts orblenches from it. But Julian's thoughts were too much bent on othertopics to manifest any alarm. His answer referred to a previous part ofBridgenorth's discourse, and was not returned till after a brief pause."War, then," he said, "war, the grand impoverisher, is also a creator ofwealth which it wastes and devours?"

  "Yes," replied Bridgenorth, "even as the sluice brings into action thesleeping waters of the lake, which it finally drains. Necessity inventsarts and discovers means; and what necessity is sterner than that ofcivil war? Therefore, even war is not in itself unmixed evil, being thecreator of impulses and energies which could not otherwise have existedin society."

  "Men should go to war, then," said Peveril, "that they may send theirsilver plate to the mint, and eat from pewter dishes and wooden plates?"

  "Not so, my son," said Bridgenorth. Then checking himself as he observedthe deep crimson in Julian's cheek and brow, he added, "I crave yourpardon for such familiarity; but I meant not to limit what I said evennow to such trifling consequences, although it may be something salutaryto tear men from their pomps and luxuries, and teach those to be Romanswho would otherwise be Sybarites. But I would say, that times of publicdanger, as they call into circulation the miser's hoard and the proudman's bullion, and so add to the circulating wealth of the country,do also call into action many a brave and noble spirit, which wouldotherwise lie torpid, give no example to the living, and bequeath noname to future ages. Society knows not, and cannot know, the mentaltreasures which slumber in her bosom, till necessity and opportunitycall forth the statesman and the soldier from the shades of lowlylife to the parts they are designed by Providence to perform, and thestations which nature had qualified them to hold. So rose Oliver--sorose Milton--so rose many another name which cannot be forgotten--evenas the tempest summons forth and displays the address of the mariner."

  "You speak," said Peveril, "as if national calamity might be, in somesort, an advantage."

  "And if it were not so," replied Bridgenorth, "it had not existed inthis state of trial, where all temporal evil is alleviated by somethinggood in its progress or result, and where all that is good is closecoupled with that which is in itself evil."

  "It must be a noble sight," said Julian, "to behold the slumberingenergies of a great mind awakened into energy, and to see it assume theauthority which is its due over spirits more meanly endowed."

  "I once witnessed," said Bridgenorth, "something to the same effect;and as the tale is brief, I will tell it you, if you will:--Amongstmy wanderings, the Transatlantic settlements have not escaped me; moreespecially the country of New England, into which our native land hasshaken from her lap, as a drunkard flings from him his treasures, somuch that is precious in the eyes of God and of His children. Therethousands of our best and most godly men--such whose righteousness mightcome of cities--are content to be the inhabitants of the desert, ratherencountering the unenlightened savages, than stooping to extinguish,under the oppression practised in Britain, the light that is withintheir own minds. There I remained for a time, during the wars which thecolony maintained with Philip, a great Indian Chief, or Sachem, as theywere called, who seemed a messenger sent from Satan to buffet them.His cruelty was great--his dissimulation profound; and the skilland promptitude with which he maintained a destructive and desultorywarfare, inflicted many dreadful calamities on the settlement. I was,by chance, at a small village in the woods, more than thirty miles fromBoston, and in its situation exceedingly lonely, and surrounded withthickets. Nevertheless, there was no idea of any danger from the Indiansat that time, for men trusted to the protection of a considerable bodyof troops who had taken the field for protection of the frontiers, andwho lay, or were supposed to lie, betwixt the hamlet and the enemy'scountry. But they had to do with a foe, whom the devil himself hadinspired at once with cunning and cruelty. It was on a Sabbath morning,when we had assembled to take sweet counsel together in the Lord'shouse. Our temple was but constructed of wooden logs; but when shall thechant of trained hirelings, or the sounding of tin and brass tubes amidthe aisles of a minster, arise so sweetly to Heaven, as did the psalm inwhich we united at once our voices and our hearts! An excellent worthy,who now sleeps in the Lord, Nehemia Solsgrace, long the companion ofmy pilgrimage, had just begun to wrestle in prayer, when a woman,with disordered looks and dishevelled hair, entered our chapel ina distracted manner, screaming incessantly, 'The Indians! TheIndians!'--In that land no man dares separate himself from his means ofdefence; and whether in the city or in the field, in the ploughed landor the forest, men keep beside them their weapons, as did the Jews atthe rebuilding of the Temple. So we sallied forth with our guns andpikes, and heard the whoop of these incarnate devils, already inpossession of a part of the town, and exercising their cruelty onthe few whom weighty causes or indisposition had withheld from publicworship; and it was remarked as a judgment, t
hat, upon that bloodySabbath, Adrian Hanson, a Dutchman, a man well enough disposed towardsman, but whose mind was altogether given to worldly gain, was shot andscalped as he was summing his weekly gains in his warehouse. In fine,there was much damage done; and although our arrival and entrance intocombat did in some sort put them back, yet being surprised and confused,and having no appointed leader of our band, the devilish enemy shothard at us and had some advantage. It was pitiful to hear the screams ofwomen and children amid the report of guns and the whistling of bullets,mixed with the ferocious yells of these savages, which they term theirwar-whoop. Several houses in the upper part of the village were soon onfire; and the roaring of the flames, and crackling of the great beams asthey blazed, added to the horrible confusion; while the smoke which thewind drove against us gave farther advantage to the enemy, who foughtas it were, invisible, and under cover, whilst we fell fast by theirunerring fire. In this state of confusion, and while we were about toadopt the desperate project of evacuating the village, and, placing thewomen and children in the centre, of attempting a retreat to the nearestsettlement, it pleased Heaven to send us unexpected assistance. A tallman, of a reverend appearance, whom no one of us had ever seen before,suddenly was in the midst of us, as we hastily agitated the resolutionof retreating. His garments were of the skin of the elk, and he woresword and carried gun; I never saw anything more august than hisfeatures, overshadowed by locks of grey hair, which mingled with a longbeard of the same colour. 'Men and brethren,' he said, in a voice likethat which turns back the flight, 'why sink your hearts? and why areyou thus disquieted? Fear ye that the God we serve will give you up toyonder heathen dogs? Follow me, and you shall see this day that there isa captain in Israel!' He uttered a few brief but distinct orders, in atone of one who was accustomed to command; and such was the influence ofhis appearance, his mien, his language, and his presence of mind,that he was implicitly obeyed by men who had never seen him until thatmoment. We were hastily divided, by his orders, into two bodies; one ofwhich maintained the defence of the village with more courage than ever,convinced that the Unknown was sent by God to our rescue. At his commandthey assumed the best and most sheltered positions for exchanging theirdeadly fire with the Indians; while, under cover of the smoke, thestranger sallied from the town, at the head of the other division of theNew England men, and, fetching a circuit, attacked the Red Warriorsin the rear. The surprise, as is usual amongst savages, had completeeffect; for they doubted not that they were assailed in their turn, andplaced betwixt two hostile parties by the return of a detachment fromthe provincial army. The heathens fled in confusion, abandoning thehalf-won village, and leaving behind them such a number of theirwarriors, that the tribe hath never recovered its loss. Never shall Iforget the figure of our venerable leader, when our men, and not theyonly, but the women and children of the village, rescued from thetomahawk and scalping-knife, stood crowded around him, yet scarceventuring to approach his person, and more minded, perhaps, to worshiphim as a descended angel, than to thank him as a fellow-mortal. 'Notunto me be the glory,' he said; 'I am but an implement, frail asyourselves, in the hand of Him who is strong to deliver. Bring me a cupof water, that I may allay my parched throat, ere I essay the task ofoffering thanks where they are most due.' I was nearest to him as hespoke, and I gave into his hand the water he requested. At that momentwe exchanged glances, and it seemed to me that I recognised a noblefriend whom I had long since deemed in glory; but he gave me no time tospeak, had speech been prudent. Sinking on his knees, and signing us toobey him, he poured forth a strong and energetic thanksgiving for theturning back of the battle, which, pronounced with a voice loud andclear as a war-trumpet, thrilled through the joints and marrow of thehearers. I have heard many an act of devotion in my life, had Heavenvouchsafed me grace to profit by them; but such a prayer as this,uttered amid the dead and the dying, with a rich tone of mingled triumphand adoration, was beyond them all--it was like the song of the inspiredprophetess who dwelt beneath the palm-tree between Ramah and Bethel. Hewas silent; and for a brief space we remained with our faces bent to theearth--no man daring to lift his head. At length we looked up, but ourdeliverer was no longer amongst us; nor was he ever again seen in theland which he had rescued."

  Here Bridgenorth, who had told this singular story with an eloquenceand vivacity of detail very contrary to the usual dryness of hisconversation, paused for an instant, and then resumed--"Thou seest,young man, that men of valour and of discretion are called forthto command in circumstances of national exigence, though their veryexistence is unknown in the land which they are predestined to deliver."

  "But what thought the people of the mysterious stranger?" said Julian,who had listened with eagerness, for the story was of a kind interestingto the youthful and the brave.

  "Many things," answered Bridgenorth, "and, as usual, little tothe purpose. The prevailing opinion was, notwithstanding his owndisclamation, that the stranger was really a supernatural being; othersbelieved him an inspired champion, transported in the body from somedistant climate, to show us the way to safety; others, again, concludedthat he was a recluse, who, either from motives of piety, or othercogent reasons, had become a dweller in the wilderness, and shunned theface of man."

  "And, if I may presume to ask," said Julian, "to which of these opinionswere you disposed to adhere?"

  "The last suited best with the transient though close view with which Ihad perused the stranger's features," replied Bridgenorth; "for althoughI dispute not that it may please Heaven, on high occasions, even toraise one from the dead in defence of his country, yet I doubted notthen, as I doubt not now, that I looked on the living form of one, whohad indeed powerful reasons to conceal him in the cleft of the rock."

  "Are these reasons a secret?" said Julian Peveril.

  "Not properly a secret," replied Bridgenorth; "for I fear not thybetraying what I might tell thee in private discourse; and besides, wertthou so base, the prey lies too distant for any hunters to whom thoucouldst point out its traces. But the name of this worthy will soundharsh in thy ear, on account of one action of his life--being hisaccession to a great measure, which made the extreme isles of the earthto tremble. Have you never heard of Richard Whalley?"

  "Of the regicide?" exclaimed Peveril, starting.

  "Call his act what thou wilt," said Bridgenorth; "he was not less therescuer of that devoted village, that, with other leading spirits of theage, he sat in the judgment-seat when Charles Stewart was arraigned atthe bar, and subscribed the sentence that went forth upon him."

  "I have ever heard," said Julian, in an altered voice, and colouringdeeply, "that you, Master Bridgenorth, with other Presbyterians, weretotally averse to that detestable crime, and were ready to have madejoint-cause with the Cavaliers in preventing so horrible a parricide."

  "If it were so," said Bridgenorth, "we have been richly rewarded by hissuccessor."

  "Rewarded!" exclaimed Julian; "does the distinction of good and evil,and our obligation to do the one and forbear the other, depend on thereward which may attach to our actions?"

  "God forbid," answered Bridgenorth; "yet those who view the havoc whichthis house of Stewart have made in the Church and State--the tyrannywhich they exercise over men's persons and consciences--may well doubtwhether it be lawful to use weapons in their defence. Yet you hearme not praise, or even vindicate the death of the King, though so fardeserved, as he was false to his oath as a Prince and Magistrate. I onlytell you what you desired to know, that Richard Whalley, one of thelate King's judges, was he of whom I have just been speaking. I knewhis lofty brow, though time had made it balder and higher; his grey eyeretained all its lustre; and though the grizzled beard covered the lowerpart of his face, it prevented me not from recognising him. The scentwas hot after him for his blood; but by the assistance of those friendswhom Heaven had raised up for his preservation, he was concealedcarefully, and emerged only to do the will of Providence in the matterof that battle. Perhaps his voice may be heard in the field on
ce more,should England need one of her noblest hearts."

  "Now, God forbid!" said Julian.

  "Amen," returned Bridgenorth. "May God avert civil war, and pardon thosewhose madness would bring it on us!"

  There was a long pause, during which Julian, who had scarce lifted hiseyes towards Alice, stole a glance in that direction, and was struck bythe deep cast of melancholy which had stolen over features, to which acheerful, if not gay expression, was most natural. So soon as she caughthis eye, she remarked, and, as Julian thought, with significance, thatthe shadows were lengthening, and evening coming on.

  He heard; and although satisfied that she hinted at his departure, hecould not, upon the instant, find resolution to break the spell whichdetained him. The language which Bridgenorth held was not only new andalarming, but so contrary to the maxims in which he was brought up,that, as a son of Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak, he would, in anothercase, have thought himself called upon to dispute its conclusions, evenat the sword's point. But Bridgenorth's opinions were delivered withso much calmness--seemed so much the result of conviction--that theyexcited in Julian rather a spirit of wonder, than of angry controversy.There was a character of sober decision, and sedate melancholy, inall that he said, which, even had he not been the father of Alice (andperhaps Julian was not himself aware how much he was influenced bythat circumstance), would have rendered it difficult to take personaloffence. His language and sentiments were of that quiet, yet decidedkind, upon which it is difficult either to fix controversy, or quarrel,although it be impossible to acquiesce in the conclusions to which theylead.

  While Julian remained, as if spell-bound to his chair, scarce moresurprised at the company in which he found himself, than at the opinionsto which he was listening, another circumstance reminded him that theproper time of his stay at Black Fort had been expended. Little Fairy,the Manx pony, which, well accustomed to the vicinity of Black Fort,used to feed near the house while her master made his visits there,began to find his present stay rather too long. She had been the giftof the Countess to Julian, whilst a youth, and came of a high-spiritedmountain breed, remarkable alike for hardiness, for longevity, and fora degree of sagacity approaching to that of the dog. Fairy showed thelatter quality, by the way in which she chose to express her impatienceto be moving homewards. At least such seemed the purpose of the shrillneigh with which she startled the female inmates of the parlour, who,the moment afterwards, could not forbear smiling to see the nose of thepony advanced through the opened casement.

  "Fairy reminds me," said Julian, looking to Alice, and rising, "that theterm of my stay here is exhausted."

  "Speak with me yet one moment," said Bridgenorth, withdrawing him intoa Gothic recess of the old-fashioned apartment, and speaking so lowthat he could not be overheard by Alice and her governante, who, in themeantime, caressed, and fed with fragments of bread the intruder Fairy.

  "You have not, after all," said Bridgenorth, "told me the cause of yourcoming hither." He stopped, as if to enjoy his embarrassment, and thenadded, "And indeed it were most unnecessary that you should do so. Ihave not so far forgotten the days of my youth, or those affectionswhich bind poor frail humanity but too much to the things of this world.Will you find no words to ask of me the great boon which you seek, andwhich, peradventure, you would not have hesitated to have made yourown, without my knowledge, and against my consent?--Nay, never vindicatethyself, but mark me farther. The patriarch bought his beloved byfourteen years' hard service to her father Laban, and they seemed tohim but as a few days. But he that would wed my daughter must serve,in comparison, but a few days; though in matters of such mighty import,that they shall seem as the service of many years. Reply not to me now,but go, and peace be with you."

  He retired so quickly, after speaking, that Peveril had literally not aninstant to reply. He cast his eyes around the apartment, but Deborahand her charge had also disappeared. His gaze rested for a moment onthe portrait of Christian, and his imagination suggested that his darkfeatures were illuminated by a smile of haughty triumph. He stared,and looked more attentively--it was but the effect of the evening beam,which touched the picture at the instant. The effect was gone, and thereremained but the fixed, grave, inflexible features of the republicansoldier.

  Julian left the apartment as one who walks in a dream; he mounted Fairy,and, agitated by a variety of thoughts, which he was unable to reduce toorder, he returned to Castle Rushin before the night sat down.

  Here he found all in movement. The Countess, with her son, had, uponsome news received, or resolution formed, during his absence, removed,with a principal part of their family, to the yet stronger Castle ofHolm-Peel, about eight miles' distance across the island; and which hadbeen suffered to fall into a much more dilapidated condition than thatof Castletown, so far as it could be considered as a place of residence.But as a fortress, Holm-Peel was stronger than Castletown; nay, unlessassailed regularly, was almost impregnable; and was always held bya garrison belonging to the Lords of Man. Here Peveril arrived atnightfall. He was told in the fishing-village, that the night-bell ofthe Castle had been rung earlier than usual, and the watch set withcircumstances of unusual and jealous repetition.

  Resolving, therefore, not to disturb the garrison by entering at thatlate hour, he obtained an indifferent lodging in the town for the night,and determined to go to the Castle early on the succeeding morning. Hewas not sorry thus to gain a few hours of solitude, to think over theagitating events of the preceding day.