MARMADUKE WYVIL; OR, THE MAID'S REVENGE, A HISTORICAL ROMANCE. BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT, i DEDICATION. TO ANSON LIVINGSTON, ESQ. AS A VERY INADEQUATE, THOUGH VERY SINCERE, TOKEN OF THE REGARD AND EST.^.M WHICH HAVE BEEN PRODUCED BY A LON& AND INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCE, THE AMERICAN EDITION OF MARMADUKE WYVIL IS DEDICATED, BY HIS FRIEND AND SERVANT, HENRY WM. HERBERT. CAKLTON HOUSE, New.Yorlc, Apri 3, 1843. ADVERTISEMENT. IN presenting this work to the public, the author feels that he is but renewing an intercourse which, though interrupted for a while, has ever been a source of agreeable recollection to himself, with many distant and unknown friends ; and, trusting that they will regard the renewal of a pleasant familiarity with favorable eyes, commits it to their gentle judgment confident that it contains not a syllable to call up a blush into the purest cheek, or to implant an improper thought in the most unsullied heart and trusting that it may be found to contain some wholesome lessons, in the portraiture of the contest between human principles, and human passions ; and to convey some useful information concerning the history of a period full of great men and stirring incidents. It may not be superfluous to add in this place, that all the facts introduced as His- torical will be found strictly true the author deeming it a species of crime, even in fiction, to falsify the truth of History. Those of his readers, who may feel such interest in this little narrative as would induce them to examine for themselves, are referred to the "Memoires relatifs a la Revolution d'Angleterre" to the Biography of the Cardinal de Retz and to the Lives of Celebrated Statesmen, by G. P. R. JAMES, Esq. from one of which sources most of the facts inwoven in the following romance have been, and much more may be, derived, both of amusement and of information. CARLTON HOUSE, New-York, April 3, 1843. MARMADUKE WYVIL; OR, THE MAID'S REVENGE. CHAPTER I. IN a sequestered vale of merry England, not many miles from the county town of Worcester, there stands, in excellent preservation, even to the present day, one of those many mansions scattered through the land, which formerly the manor houses of a race, now, like their dwellings, becoming rapidly extinct, the good old English squires have, for the most part, been converted into farm-houses ; since their old-time proprie- tors have, simultaneously with the growth of vaster fortunes, and the rise of loftier dignities, declined into a humbler sphere. In the days of which we write, however, Woolverton Hall was in the hands of the same family, which had dwelt there, father and son, for ages. It was a tall, irregular edifice, of bright red brick, composed of two long buildings, with steep flagged roofs and pointed gables, meeting exactly at right angles so as to form a letter L ; the longer limb running due east and west, the shorter abutting on the eastern end, and pointing with its gable, southerly. In this south gable, near the top, was a tall, gothic, lanceolated window, its mullions and casings wrought of a yellowish sand-stone, to match the corner stones of all the angles, which were faced with the same material ; beneath this window, which, as seen from without, appeared to reach nearly from the floor to the ceiling of the second story, was the date, 1559 the numerals, several feet in length, composed of rusty iron ; and above it, on the summit of the gable, a tall weather-cock, surmounted by a vane shaped like a dol- phin, which had once been fairly gilded, but now was all dim and tarnished by long exposure to the seasons. To this part of the house there were no chimneys, which was the more remarkable, that the rest of the building was somewhat superfluously adorned with these appendages, rising like columns, quaintly wrought of brickwork in the old Elizabethan style. Corresponding to the gothic window in position, though by no means so lofty, a range of five large square-topped latticed windows, divided each into four compartments by a cross-shaped stone transom, ran all along that front of the other wing, which, with the abutting chapel for such it seemed to be formed the interior angle of the L. From the point of the western roof, to match, as it were, the weathercock which crowned the other gable, projected a long beam or horn of stone, at an angle of about ninety degrees, curiously wreathed with a deep spiral groove, not much unlike the tusk of that singular animal, the sword-fish. This was all that could be seen of the main building from without, by a spectator looking at its southern front for it stood in a court surrounded by a heavy wall of brick, with a projecting parapet and battlement of stone, flanked by short towers, with roofs shaped like extinguishers, and having its base washed by a broad rapid rivulet, which, rushing through a narrow artificial channel, along the eastern wall, expanded in front of the house into a wider bed; and after falling over a steep dam, swept off down the lone valley to the left, in a south-westerly direction. In the outer wall, close to the base of a flanking tower, crenelled and looped for musketry and ordnance, was a low water-gate, well closed with a portcullis of stout iron bars ; and, some ten feet 2 MARMADTTKE WYVIL; within, by a strong second door of oak, studded with massive nails. Toward the west, the courtyard wall rose higher, for there a smooth and velvet lawn, with no im- pediment of fosse or ditch, swept, with a light ascent, up to its very foot ; and in the entre of its length, seen, in perspective, by one standing as above, was an embattled gate-house. It should be added that from within this wall, the tops of many ornamental trees might be discovered, now slightly tinged by the first hues of autumn. The north- ern and eastern faces of the house, which could not, of course, be seen from the position indicated, displayed no entrances, nor aught save narrow loops and shot-holes on the ground floor, while, even on the upper stories, the apertures for air and light were small, and guarded against escalade by heavy iron gratings. The whole had evidently been originally meant, no less for a defensible position than for a peaceful dwelling, in those stern days, when every man's house was, in truth, his castle ; but easier times had followed, and many of the sterner points had been concealed, and that not casually, by graces and embellishments of milder nature. Fruit-trees and many flowering creepers were trained along the landward fronts of the main building ; a mass of dense and tangled ivy covered the turrets of the gate-house, and on the moat little designed for such use by its makers floated two stately swans, their graceful necks and snow-white plumage reflected to the life, on its transparent bosom, with a whole host of smaller water-fowl, teal, widgeon, golden-eyes, and others of rare foreign species, diving and revelling, half-reclaimed, in pursuit of their prey or pleasure. Such was the aspect of the hall, on the day following the desperate fight of Worcester, the sounds of which the dull deep bellowing of the cannon, blent with the harsh dis- cordant rattle of the volleying arquebus had been distinctly heard by its dismayed in- habitants. Some symptoms of fresh preparation were there, though, for the most part, slight and ineffective the creepers had been cut away in places where they had entirely obscured the crenelles ; fresh loopholes had been broken in the western wall ; a few small cannon, falcons and culverins, were mounted on the parapet ; and from an em- brasure, which flanked the water gate, the muzzle of a heavy gun was run out, grinning its stern defiance. There was no flag, however, displayed from the walls ; no show of any garrison, not so much even as a solitary sentinel so that there was no reason to believe the inmates partisans of either of those factions which 4iad so long disturbed the country ; or to suppose them capable of any more prolonged defence, than might suffice to beat off the marauders, who, ever profiting by times of civil discord, levied their contributions equally on friend or foe or neutral. South of the moat, the bank of which was fringed with a low shrubby coppice, mostly of ornamental plants and bushes, a park-like meadow dotted with clumps of trees, and full of sunny slopes and cool deep hollows, extended, half a mile perhaps in width, to the high road, from which it was divided by a broad sunk fence and ragged paling ; and was flanked by the stream, which, strong and deep and rapid, had cut itself a deep gorge through the rich alluvial soil, the sides thickset with broom and furze and brachens, and many a polished holly-bush, and many an ash and alder, forming a dense and seemingly impervious brake. Beyond the river, which the road traversed on an old one-arched bridge of brick, lay a wide tract of low and swampy woodland ; and at the angle of the park, formed by the meeting of the highway and the brook, stood a small fishing- house, much overgrown with ivy, but kept in good repair ; as might be seen by the neat painted lattices, one of which, standing open, showed a white muslin curtain gracefully looped up, and a small table with a vase of flowers arranged there, evidently by a woman's hand. This scene, with all its details, has not been thus particularly and closely drawn, from the mere wish of laying a picture before the eyes of the reader although it is a picture, and a true one but from a desire of impressing on the mind localities, without a full and distinct perception of which much of the melancholy tale to be related would be obscure, to such a degree, as to lose one half of its interest. It was, as has been said, on the day following Worcester fight the crowning mercy OR, THE MAID'S REVENGE. 3 of that remarkable man who swayed so skilfully the destinies of the great kingdom, which he so strangely won that Woolverton Hall looked, in the level rays of the de- clining sun, as it is here described. The morning had been raw and gusty, and though toward sunset the chilly clouds had opened, and let out a few faint beams to gild the melancholy hues of autumn, which were encroaching fast upon the cheerful greenery of the woods, it was but a gray and gloomy evening. A few small birds had, indeed, mustered courage to chirrup some short notes to the brief sunbeams, and a single throstle was pouring out his liquid song from the thick foliage on the river bank ; but the wind whistled dolefully, although not high, among the tree tops, whirling away the sere leaves with its every breath ; and a thic ffhostly mist seethed upward from the surface of the brook, like the steam of a caldron, and through its smoky wreaths flapped the broad pin- ions of that aquatic hermit, the gray heronshaw, meet habitant of such a spot. Sadly, however, as the scene, beautiful in ordinary aspects, and romantically wild, showed, under such a sky, it was yet gazed upon by soft and lovely eyes ; for, from the open lattice of the fishing-house, nearest to the highway, a young girl, surely not past her twentieth summer, looking forth half listlessly half mournfully over the bridge, and up the sandy road, which, skirting the dank woodlands wound over a small hill, the verge of which cut clear rjainst the ruddy sky at a mile's distance. She was a genuine English beauty, with a fair and oval face, a bright, delicate complexion, shaded by a profusion of rich nut-b.-own hair, falling in ample curls from off her lustrous brow, and sweeping, in thick cluste/s, down her neck. Her eyes were of a full bright blue, with long dark lashes ; and they, and all her features spoke volumes of soft gentle girlish feelings of tenderness and pity ; and of love, latent but ready to leap forth a giant from his birth. Her figure was below, rather than above, the middle height of woman ; but exquisitely shaped, and far more full and rounded, although her waist was very slender, than usual at her years. Her arm, which was a good deal displayed by the open falling sleeve of the period, was symmetry itself ; and her whole person, and its every movement full of that graceful ease, which goes yet farther to win hearts than the most regal beauty. A book or two lay scattered on the table at her side, and an old- fashioned lute ; while at her feet, stretched out at his full length, was an enormous blood- hound, his lithe and sinewy limbs now all relaxed and easy, his huge black-muzzled head quietly couched between his paws, and his smooth tawny hide glancing like cop- per in the last lurid sunbeam. But now that sunbeam vanished ; a deeper shade sank down over the landscape, a dull gray hue swallowed up all the glimmering tints that gemmed the fleecy clouds with light, and all was dim and dark woodland and mead and sky and river, except one pale bright streak far in the west, against which the brow of the hill, with the road winding over it, stood out in clear relief. The girl, who had been gazing so long on the darkening scene, evidently half uncon- scious that she did so, suddenly seemed to recollect herself, and gathering her cloak about her, drew its hood over her rich tresses, and rose as if to go the bloodhound, wakened from his doze by her light tread, lifted his head, yawned lazily, and stretched himself ; and then arising to his full height, looked wistfully into her face, as if he were aware of the importance of his trust. But at that very moment a dull flat report, as of a distant gunshot, broke the silence ; and the dog pricked his pendulous ears, and stalked with a low growl to the doorway ; while the lady turned her head quickly toward the window whence she had just with- drawn. Her first glance was toward the road ; and, where it crossed the hill-top, she saw clearly the head of a man, and then his whole figure, with his horse, rise rapidly against the brilliant gleam of the western sky so instantaneous was his transit, how. ever, that she would almost have distrusted her eyesight, had not the clatter of hoofs dashing fiercely down the hill-side, assured her of its accuracy for now the slope and base of the hill were all in misty and uncertain shadow. Before she had well thought on what she had scarce seen, another and another and another head topped the steep verge ; and, as they crossed it, were discovered, by the bright glitter, to be covered with steel caps, the well-known head-dress of the Puritan troopers another second sufficed 4 MARMADtTKE WYVILJ to bring into full view a party of some twenty horse, who halted for a moment on the summit a dozen of quick flashes ran along the front, and the sharp rattle of a volley followed again a minute and they, too, had galloped down the slope, and were enveloped in thick gloom. All this passed in less time than it has taken to describe it, but still the lady had marked and understood it all ; and acted on the instant, as a kind heart, instigated by woman's natural sympathy with the oppressed, dictated. Wilh a quick step she left the fishing-house, and stood upon a little flight of steps which ran down from a platform level with the bridge, to the stream's brink. And scarcely had she reached her stand, before the single horseman wheeled round the angle of the wood, and crossed the bridge at as fast a rate as his drooping steed could compass. The pur- suers, scarcely five hundred yards behind him, were still beyond the woodland, which alone hindered them from seeing him. " Hist !" she cried " hist ! Sir Cavalier," in clear low tones, which made them- selves distinctly audible to him whom she addressed, though they could scarcely have been heard at three yards' distance. " Halt, as you love your life. Halt, for Godsake !" Almost instinctively the rider drew his rein ; and the wearied horse obeyed so readily, that he stood statue-like upon the instant. The horseman was a tall slight figure, with a slouched hat and drooping feather, a cuirass of bright steel, crossed by a broad blue baldric, and all his buff coat slashed with satin, and fringed with Flanders' lace thus much she saw at half a glance, and it confirmed all she supposed and dreaded. " You have but one chance for your life !" she said " but one ! but one ! There is another troop of Cromwell's horse not half a league before you. 'Light down ! 'light down ! for Godsake, while yet they are behind the wood nay ! speak not, but 'light down," she continued, even more vehemently,' seeing him now about to answer. " Do it with the speed of light cross the bridge back again, fasten your horse there in the wood, and join me instantly I can I can and I will save you, so you delay not i" The tramp of galloping horses came nearer, and the shouts of the pursuers he paused, he doubted, but as if to accelerate his resolve, a distant trumpet tone, and the long hollow boom of a kettle-drum came down the road from the direction he was following, and proved the hopelessness of flight. He turned his horse's head " Lady," he said, " I trust you, I obey" he retraced his steps quickly, and had just reached the friendly covert, when, at the top of their speed, the Puritans drove round the corner a second sooner, and he had perished at her feet. With instant readiness of mind, she hurried down the steps, bidding the hound, in a low voice, be still and from the last low stair, sprang lightly to a small abutment under the bridge's arch, just level with the water ; and scarcely was she there, before, with clash of harness, and jingling of spur and scabbard, and all the thundering din of charging horse, the troopers drove above her head. The solid masonry appeared to quake be- neath the fury of their speed. Her heart stood still with awe then, as the tumult pas- sed, and died away in the distance, bounded as though it would have burst her bosom. Timidly, cautiously she crept up the damp mossy steps, and reached the causeway and hardly was she there, when a dim shape came crouching toward her from the woodland. " Heaven be praised !" she exclaimed " oh ! Heaven be praised !" as he stood safely by her side. " Follow me swift and silently. Life ! life is on our speed !" Descending once more to the margin of the water, she drew aside the tangled branches, and entered a small winding footpath, worn by the devious tread of the wild deer, and widened by the steps of village urchins, nutting or birdnesting among the matted dingle. So narrow was the track, however, and so abruptly did it twist and turn round many a doddered ivy bush and stunted oak, now covered, for a few steps, by the shallow ripples of the stream, now scaling the ravine by sudden zigzags, that none but a well-practiced eye could have discovered it by that glimmering twilight. Though well aware that life was on his speed that the avenger of blood was but a little way behind the stranger scarcely could keep up, though muscular, and swift of foot, and active, with the deer-like speed of his fair guide. At length, after a rapid Oft, THE MAID'S REVENGE. 5 walk of perhaps ten minutes, they reached the dam at the moat-head where was a low-arched boat-house, with a small light skiff moored beneath it and stood quietly facing the south side of the mansion. From the two windows, farthest from the five in the upper range, a steady light was shining into the quiet night ; and from a loop, beside the water-gate, a long red ray streamed out, casting a wavering line of radiance over the rippling water. With these exceptions, all was profoundly dark and silent. By the boat-house she paused a moment, as if in deep reflection. " They will come here anon !" she said " they will come here anon, and search the house from battlement to cellar, before we can bestow you where I would. And I must blind the servants, and speak, too, with my father. Meanwhile, here must you tarry here they will never dream of searching." And as she spoke she stooped under the low-browed arch, and tripped along a little rib of stone- work, scarcely a foot in width, to the extreme end of the boat-house, where was a small paved landing, with three steps downward to the water, and a slight wooden ladder upward, leading to a small hole beside the keystone of the arch. " Up there," she cried " up there," laying her hand upon the ladder, which they could just distinguish by the reflection of the windows from the moat. " It is a little sail-loft, not two feet high, under the slated roof, full of old sails and oars. Up there, and draw the ladder after you, and should they come to search there, which they will not, I think, roll yourself in the canvas, and lie still. And now attend to me. There is a little air-hole in the front, toward the house, whence you can see the windows. Can you swim, sir you can, I warrant me !" and as she heard his brief affirmative, she went on rapidly " well, when you see that red light thrice extinguished, and thrice re-lighted, with such pause that you may reckon ten between, come down, swim boldly to the water-gate, and I will be there to admit you. Farewell God keep you," and she stepped into the light boat, unmoored, and pushed it out, while the young cavalier ascended, and drew up the ladder obedient to her bidding. The distance was but short, and the light paddle, wielded by her fairy hands, scarcely had cut the surface six times, ere the boat floated by the portcullis of the water-gate ; and a voice somewhat tremulous from age, hailed from the lighted shot-hole, inquiring who was there. " 'Tis I 'tis I, good Jeremy," she answered. " Open to me, quickly, for it is some- what late and cold for the season." The aged servitor required no second bidding ; the grating was drawn up, and the inner doors thrown open, and while the old man held his link on high, casting a smoky light over the steps, and the black water, and several boats moored there of various sizes two younger grooms, with badges on the sleeves of their jerkins, ran out along the platforms on each side, and drew the boat, with its fair freight, up to the inner landing. The gates were again barred, and the portcullis lowered the cresset in the ward-room was extinguished, and Jeremy preceding with the torch, and the grooms following cap in hand, the lady passed out from the water-tower into the courtyard of the hall. The upper portion of the building, as viewed from without the walls, has been de- scribed already ; but a new prospect was now shown the court, from the walls of the chapel, to the gate-house at its western end, would have measured not less than a hun- dred yards, one half of which, toward the gate, was laid out in a formal parterre, divided from the rest by a stone balustrade, with richly-carved stone vases, and planted thickly with yew and box and holly, clipped into all fantastic shapes of peacocks, cen- taurs, dragons, and the like, according to the taste of that old day, with two time-honored giants vast pines presiding over them, like Samsons, in all the majesty of unshorn strength and beauty. The remaining space was open, paved with small pebbles, divided by long rows of granite curb-stones, diverging from a common centre, where, in an orna- mental basin, played a small fountain. The door of the mansion, under a low stone arch, bearing upon its keystone the same date, 1559, was placed exactly at the ex- tremity of the main, building, where the abutting chapel formed a right angle, and was 6 MARMADtTKE WYVIL; flanked by several long crenelles for musketry, which, it would seem, with similar apertures, had, formerly, been the only means of giving light to the ground floor of the edifice. Of these, however, only five remained flanking the doorway, while, for the others, had been substituted good honest latticed casements, four in the front, under the windows of the upper story, the portal corresponding to the fifth, and two in the basement of the chapel. From all of these now shone a bright and cheerful radiance through the transparent medium of snow-white curtains, against which many a shadow of male and female forms was cast, as persons hurried to and fro between them and the lights ; while ever and anon the hum of merry voices and light laughter rang out into the night, suggest- ing many an image of fireside English comfort. Not long, however, did the lady pause to note a scene which she had looked upon many times daily from her childhood, but passed across an angle of the garden, and through the middle of the court, directly to the door. It was a formidable massy-looking remnant of antiquity a piece of hard black oak, six inches thick, all clenched with great nail heads, and crossed with iron bars yet it stood on the latch, which gave way readily to the light touch of the lady, and admitted her to a small neat square hall, with two doors, to the right and left, and a huge staircase at the back the steps, and balustrades, and wainscoting, and floor, all made of beautiful and highly-polished oak. A gothic window, with stained glass, in the second story for the hall was the whole height of the building, with a gallery above lighted it in the day ; but now a brazen lamp, with several blazing branches, swung by a crimson cord from the roof. Two or three portraits hung upon the wall, grim-visaged warriors cap-a-pie in steel, with brandished truncheons and long-waisted ladies, looking unutterable sweetness at huge nosegays. Upon a large slab table, under the first turn of the staircase, lay several gloves, a broad-leafed hat and feather, and a sad-colored riding-cloak of camlet ; while, in the corner, stood a miscellaneous assort- ment of hand-guns, fishing-rods, crossbows, and hunting-poles weapons of rural sport as on the walls above hung suits of bright plate armor, with arquebus and petronel and pike, and every implement of veritable warfare. " There that will do, Jeremy. I trow I shall find my father in the library above ! mat will do go your way to supper," said the fair girl, waving her hand to her at- tendants, eager to get away from the restraint imposed on her by their presence ; and as they disappeared through the door to the right whence, as they opened it, pro- ceeded a most savory smell of supper, and a loud buzz of merriment bounded with a light foot but anxious heart, up the broad staircase ; hurried through several spacious rooms, illuminated only by the dim glimmering of the new-risen moon, and entering the library, stood in a broad glare of light before her father's chair. CHAPTER,!!. 1 THE apartment which the lady entered, was a small room, furnished on every side with book-cases and presses of some dark foreign wood, which, indeed, covered all the wall, with the exception of the panel immediately above the mantelpiece, and this was filled by a large and exquisitely-painted portrait. There needed not two glances be- fore pronouncing it a masterpiece of Antony Vandyke ; it was a lady, in the pride and prime of youthful beauty, and the calm melancholy features and dark glossy curls told, beyond doubt, the place which she had occupied in that old house, and the relationship she bore to the fair girl who stood below, younger and fresher and more g^y, but still the breathing counterpart of the old picture. The only inmate of the room, when the girl cast the door abruptly open, was a man very far advanced in years, but yet of stately presence time, which had covered his fine classic head with the thin snows of nearly OR, fourscore winters, and ploughed deep lines of care and thought on his expansive brow, had not curtailed his upright stature by one inch, nor dimmed at all the lustre of his dark brilliant eye. He had been, it would seem, employed in writing ; for the pen was yet in his fingers, and paper lay before him with many books folios, and ponder- ous tomes of reference scattered around him on the table. But the unwonted speed of his daughter's tread had excited him for those were days when each new hour brought a new tale of terror, and men not naturally observant, were forced to become so, by the immediate pressure of events. He had arisen, therefore, from his cushioned chair which he had pushed back toward the ruddy hearth, and even taken a step or two toward the door when it flew open, and with cheeks paler than usual, and a slight air of anxiety, but, nevertheless, all calm and passionless and tranquil, she stood before him. " Why, how now, Alice," he exclaimed ; " what has gone wrong now what 19 amiss, my darling, and wherefore so late ?" " Oh, nothing, nothing is amiss, dear father," she replied, forcing a smile, which, nevertheless, failed to deceive his fears or calm his apprehension. " Nothing has gone wrong, I assure you, but I have much to tell you, and brief space wherein to do so ; and, above all, I fear me much, we shall, ere long, have most unwelcome visitors." " Sit down, then sit down, Alice, and tell me all about it if there be brief space, so much the more need for good haste ;" and he pulled forward, as he spoke, a settee from the corner of the chimney, and placed himself in his own seat in attitude of deep attention. " Well, father, to begin," she said ; " I took the little skiff, when you came up to write, and crossed the moat, and walked down with old Talbot to the fishing-house by the high road to Worcester ; and there I got engaged with a book till my attention was called from it by sounds of martial music, sounding away beyond the top of Long- mire Hill ; and then I looked out in surprise, for we had heard, you know, that the troops had all moved away southward, and saw first one, and then a second troop of horsemen file down the slope ; and, as I did not fear at all, having no cause to do so, I waited there to see them pass, and they were men of Cromwell's own regiment of Ironsides, with scarlet cassocks, and bright corslets, and steel caps, and large boots, and no feathers. There were above a hundred of them, and they rode by quite leis- urely, laughing and chatting, and some smoking. And when they had passed by, I fell into a sort of revery, which must have lasted a long time, for when I recollected myself, it had become quite gray and dark ; and there was no light in the sky except one yellow gleam along the summit of the hill, where the road crosses it. And then I rose to go away, and had put on my cloak, when a sound like the shot of a hand-gun or pistolet, attracted me, and I looked out again and saw one horseman cross the ridge at a full gallop, and half a minute after, the top was covered by a whole troop of Puritans, for I could see the glitter of their helmets, and they halted and fired a volley, and charged down hill after him. So then I went out on the platform by the bridge, and waited till he came up a tall young gentleman, with long light hair, and a slouched hat and feather, and a steel breast-plate, with a broad blue scarf across it ; and I called out to him to stop, and told him how there was another company of horse before, and bade him turn back, and tie up his own beast sorely jaded it was, too, though a noble charger down in the heronry wood, and to join me while his pursuers were hid be- hind the tall tr< - ; of the beech clump, and he went back and was just out of sight, when the whole party turned the corner, and drove down, shouting and brandishing their swords at a fierce gallop. Then I ran down the steps, and hid beneath the arch of the brick bridge, while they dashed on overhead. Not one of them saw me or Tal- bot, I'm quite certain, and the dog never growled nor showed his teeth, but seemed to know what was to do, as well as I did. When they had all gone by again, I ran up to the top once more, and there he joined me ; and I brought him home along the little path through the dark dingle ; and when we reached the boat-house I showed him the sail-loft, and made him mount the ladder and draw it up after him ; and then I crossed 8 MAfeMADTIKE the moat alone, and came directly home to tell you all that I had done. And I have done right have not I, my father ?" " Right ! right, of course, my girl ; you could not see the fair youth slain. Yet 'tis an awkward chance. None of the serving-men nor foresters saw him with you, you are certain ?" " Certain most certain !" " So far well these troopers, as you say, will be here anon and will search all the house ; but they know me, that I have not borne arms nor taken any part in these sad broils, and our cousin Chaloner has drawn his sword for the commonwealth : so that if we can hide him from this first search, I fear little but that we may preserve him. He must stay where he is, at present, and until they be here and the search over then will we have him in when it's quite late, and hide him in the priest's hole. Did any of the first party of troopers see you ?" " One did, and pointed me to his next comrade, and I heard them laugh and whisper." " Then this must be your tale ; you saw the first two companies go by, and tarried at the fishing-house yet longer, but when you heard the shots, you were afraid, and fled across the park to the boat-house, and came here by the skiff." " Were it not better, father," she replied, " to make no mention of the boat-house, lest they should search and " "No! no!" he answered "oh, no, no! They will interrogate the servants, and learn where the boat lay, and s> will suspect what you would conceal, even from your own omission !" " I see," she replied, thoughtfully. " Yet 'tis a fearful risk." " It is so, Alice," answered the old man " it is so yet fearful as it is, it must be run and now away go to your bower, and call your tirewoman, and dress as is your wont ; and then to supper ; all must go on as usual ; we must leave them no hint whereon to hang suspicion." She left the library, and in a little while returned with her rich hair combed back from her fair brow, and neatly braided, and all her dress chastly arranged as for the evening meal. The pair descended to the hall, where, as was customary in those unso- phisticated days, the household was assembled to partake, at the same board, of the same meal which was prepared for their superiors. With easy dignity, but nought of stern pride or of cold presumption, the aged gentleman presided with his sweet child beside him ; but ere the meal was ended, the interruption by two at least of the party fully expected occurred to break it short. A trumpet was blown clamorously at the gate- house, and before it could by any possibility have been answered, a second and a third blast followed. " Go, some of you, and see," exclaimed the master of the house, with an air of the most perfect unconcern " go see who calls so rudely bestir you, or the man will blow the gate down." Two or three of the badged green-coated serving men, of whom the hall was full, ran off at speed to perform his bidding ; but ere they reached the gates the porter had dis- charged his duty, and forty or fifty of the Ironsides dismounted, and marched in, their long steel scabbards and huge boots clanking and clattering over the paved courtyard, while thrice as many of their comrades were drawn up round the house on horseback, so as to form a cordon, rendering escape impossible except by the moat, which, of course, could not be included in the chain of sentries. " Ten men, with sergeant Goodenough, straight to the water-gate,"' shouted a loud authoritative voice "cut down or shoot all who attempt to pass without the word." " Ha ! here is something more than common," cried the old man ; " nay, fear not, gentle daughter, I will go see to it;" and he arose as if to put his words into effect, when the doors were thrown violently open, and two officers one a rough-looking veteran, well seamed with scars of ancient honorable wars, the other a sleek, hypocritical-look- ing youth, with a head of close-cropped foxy hair, and an evil downcast eye both clad in the full uniform of Cromwell's Ironsides, and with their swords drawn, entered ; while Oft, THE MAID*S REVENGE. 9 about the door clustered a group of privates, with their musketoons all wishing, and their slow matches lighted. " Let no one quit the room, who would not die the death ;" exclaimed the first who entered. " What means this outrage, gentlemen ; if gentlemen ye be, who violently thus intrude upon a female's presence, with your war-weapons and rude tongues ? What makes ye in my peaceful dwelling at this untimely hour ?" "It means, Mark Selby," replied the second, in a low nasal strain "it means that thou, despite our noble general's proclamation, hast traitorously harbored and secreted one of these rakehell cavaliers, whom, yesterday, the Lord delivered into our hands, to slay them. Wherefore, surrender him at once, so shalt thou 'scape the penalty this time on strength of thy relationship with stout and trusty Henry Chaloner." " What cavalier ? or of whom speak ye ? I know not whom ye mean. My household, save the porter and the scullions, are all here. Save we ourselves, there are none else in all the house." " Lie not !" replied the young man, violently " lie not, lest the Lord deal with ye, as he dealt in old time with Ananias and Sapphira." " I thank thee for thy courtesy, and shall make thee no answer any more. Search the house if ye will ye will find no one here !" " We will search and search thoroughly yea ! very thoroughly ! for though thou thinkest it not, we know your secret corners, your priest's holes, and your Jesuit's hi. dings yea ! we shall search them, and rinding what we shall find ill will it go with thee. Keep guard thou, lancepesade, over all here till we return :" and with the word they left the hall into which all the household was collected, and for two hours or more they were heard searching every room and stair, and landing-place of the large rambling edifice sounding the panels with their musket butts, thrusting their broadswords into every crevice, but evidently finding nothing to justify their violent intrusion. At length reentering, they strictly questioned the old servants, from whom, however, nothing was elicited, except that their mistress had gone forth with the boat alone, some hour or so after the dinner, and had returned alone by the water-gate two hours since. Then came the lady's turn, and, though with something more of delicacy and restraint, she, too, was very narrowly examined. The story she told, being the literal truth, ex- cept that she omitted to say anything about the cavalier, and corresponding exactly with the narrative of the servants, produced a very visible effect upon the hearers, who, having searched all the out-houses and stables, and every nook and corner in the house without finding anything, and having, in the first instance, intruded only upon a vague suspicion, began to fear that they had got into a troublesome scrape. After a pause, however " The boat-house," exclaimed one, " the boat-house we have not searched the boat- house ! Bring all of them along or, stay bring Master Selby down, and his fair daughter, to the water-gate, and we will boat it over, they guiding us. Without, there, sergeant move a guard round by the dam on the moat, to the boat-house." The words were not well uttered before they were obeyed, and in ten minutes the whole party, consisting of the officers, with six stout troopers, were floating in the barge toward the boat-house. The face of the old man was stern and dark, and save of anger and resentment, showed no emotion nor did his daughter, though inwardly her whole frame shook with bitter and heart-rending anguish, suffer a single tremor to betray her feminine terrors. The boat shot into the little cove, the torches threw their broad glare through the whole building, and there was nought to see. " Here is a platform and a landing," cried the same youth who had proposed to search the boat-house, and who, with a strange pertinacity, persisted still " let us ashore, for I doubt much we have him here :" and landing on the narrow rib whereon the little feet of Alice had trodden but a short while before, he strode with echoing tramp to the far end, and waving his torch round, discovered the entrance of the sail-loft. "Ha! said I not so?" he exclaimed, exultingly "said I not so? What have we up this trap, sweet Master Selby?" 30 MARMADTTKEWYVIL; "A sail-loft," answered he, very quietly " a little place about a foot or two feet high, with some old oars in it best search it, sir best search it ; there may be a whole troop of cavaliers therein for aught I know against it." Poor Alice set her teeth and drew her breath hard, and with a tremulous grasp clung to her father's arm as he replied, "I will." "Tush, man," his comrade interposed, " thou carriest caution to sheer folly seesi thou, there is no ladder? how should a man have mounted or having mounted, how in God's name should he lie there ?" " They may have cut the ladder down, lest it should leave a clue. Be it as it may, I will assay it. Here, jump ashore you, Martin and John Burney, hoist me into this trap, and pass me" up a torch." And in a moment, by their aid, he caught the edge of the trap with his hands, draw, ing his head and shoulders in till he could hold. himself up by his elbows; the torch was then passed up to him, and he thrust it forward into the loft a little way up. "Well, Despard, what see you?" cried his comrade. "Four old oars, and a roll of canvas," answered the disappointed soldier, tossing his torch into the water, and leaping down. "I thought so," was the answer: and a loud burst of laughter from the Ironsides, who were tired out by the fruitless search, and eager to get back to quarters, drowned the convulsive sob which Alice could not master. With brief and blunt excuse the troopers mounted and departed the Hall was again quiet, and when they were again left to themselves in the old library, Alice fell suddenly into her father's arms, and burst into a flood of weeping. CHAPTER:III. IT was long after the departure of the Ironsides, before the excited feelings of the fair girl were in the least degree composed ; but gradually, when the harsh clank of their march, and the shrill clangor of their trumpet had subsided into absolute stillness, or rather into that soft and soothing mixture of natural and accustomed sounds, which, after the home ear has grown acquainted with their never-ending murmur, pass for entire silence the violent fits of half-convulsive sobbing which had at first shaken her whole frame, ceased, and the tears flowed in a quiet and unpainful stream. These, -too, by slow degrees, dimininished, and at last flowed no longer. It was not grief, however, nor even sorrow that had called forth so strange and passionate emotions from that calm bosom ; for the whole heart was full of deep and tranquil gratitude to Him, by whose good providence the stranger had been preserved from his bloodthirsty enemies much less was it all joy, for though there was a sense of happiness, or of relief at least from terrible anxiety, springing up from the depths of her pure soul, yet there was nothing strong or passionate, nothing tumultuous in the character of that pure stilly pleasure. No, it was merely the reaction of a mind over-tensely strung during the late dread scenes. It had been only by an exertion almost too great for female powers, that she had crushed down into her inmost soul all semblance of anxiety or interest during the search of the rude Puritans ; yet so completely had she crushed it down while in the presence of those stern inquisitors, that not only had she compelled her steps to be equal, and her hand steady, but she had actually forced her cheek and lip to retain their wonted color her eye its quiet undisturbed expression. And well was it for that young stranger that she did so. For it was even less, the grave unmoved demeanor of the aged gentle, man less, the unconsciousness of the alarmed domestics than the perfect tranquility of that sweet and lovely maiden, which had convinced them that their searching longer would be but a vain labor. I OR, THE MAID'S KEVENGE. 11 It had been some suspicion vague indeed and indefinite that she might have con- cealed the cavalier, without the knowledge of the household, by which the leaders of the party had been induced to search the boat-house ; and therefore had they caused her to accompany them; that, if their doubts were true, some terror or expression of alarm might, as they judged, inevitable betray the secret of his hiding-place. And so far were they right, that it had only been by dint of almost superhuman fortitude that she forebore to scream aloud in the intensity of her excitement, when they persisted in examining the sail-loft, wherein, scarcely six inches from the torch of bis pursuer, the object of her care lay hidden. Exci tement, such as this, must end in a revulsion ; and it was fortunate that there was cause enough apparent, to have disturbed the equilibrium of her mind, in the events which had transpired in the full sight of all so that the outbreak of hysterical passion called forth no more alarm, than a mere fit of feminine terror, from the assiduous attendants who crowded round their beloved mistress, with all the remedies of essences, strong waters and the like, which their ignorant but kindly zeal could dictate. Gradually, as we have said, however, her tears ceased to flow ; and, as her mind regained its usual serene and balanced tenor, she recollected that there was yet much more to do, and much more cause than ever to avoid wakening suspicion. With her to see the right, and to perform it, were scarcely the results of a two-fold operation ; and bidding her tirewoman- await her coming in her own chamber, she dismissed all the rest ; her father adding his injunction, that as the hour of bedtime was long passed, they should not linger in the hall with idle gossipings, else there would be late rising in the morn. No more was said ; but in those good old days, and in that orderly and peaceful household, there was no doubt that his words would be obeyed even to the letter. In a few moments the old gray-headed porter brought in the keys of the great gate and water- port, and laid them on the table by his master's hand, and before half an hour, except in old Mark's library, and in the chamber of his sweet child, there was not a light burning, nor an eye unclosed, through the whole building. Hours were early in those days, so that the clock had barely stricken ten when all the fires were quenched and lights extinguished. Eleven twelve one, followed the deep sounds of the stable clock-house, solemnly booming through the lonely night ; and still the lamp burned steadily in the small library ; and the two lighted windows might be seen a*bove the courtyard wall, and through the foliage of the park plantations, even S far as the high road, had any one be-en watching them. And one was watching them. The younger of the Puritan officers, wrapped in his scarlet watch-cloak, was standing on the platform of the fish-house, with a neighboring farmer, dressed in his usual toil-worn garb beside him, and a stout trooper holding some five or six saddled chargers on the bridge. Just as the clock struck one, the soldier stamped impatiently. " Doth the old hoary dotard keep watch thus always, till 'tis morning?" he exclaimed, turning toward the rustic. " Ay, ay, sir ;" he replied " I'll warrant him. Master Mark's a great scholar, I've heard tell, and speaks all sorts of untold old-time tongues. And so you see he keeps a poring over a sight o' musty books night after night. Many's the time and often, when I've been kept from home past common, at Worcester market or the like, I've seen yon light in yon two selfsame windows, while three o'clock o' the morning. And yet the old man's astir with the cock, too that's what does bother me like " " See ! see !" the other interrupted him, " it has gone out." "Ay, ay. Now we shall see it cross the next three windows to the right, then if any one were watching the west end, he might see it a little while in the west gable. The old man's chamber's there, next to young mistress's bower." While he yet spoke, the light , as of a candle or a lamp in motion, flitted across the three tall casements to the right, and disappearing, the southern front of the old Hall waa left in absolute darkness. " Well ! there it does go, of a surety," replied the Puritan, " and there is one to watch on &3 ?? ?&