head and bosom, while Northmour and I ran to the window. The weather continued clear; the moon, which was now about full, had risen and shed a very clear light upon the links; yet, strain our eyes as we might, we could distinguish nothing moving. A few dark spots, more or less, on the uneven expanse were not to be identified ; they might be crouching men, they might be shadows; it was impossible to be sure. "Thank God," said Northmour, "Aggie is not coming to-night " Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought of her till now; but that he should think of her at all was a trait that surprised me in the man. We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to the fireplace and spread his hands before the red embers, as if he were cold. I followed him mechanically with my eyes, and in so doing turned my back upon the window. At that moment a very faint report was audible from without, and a ball shivered a pane of glass, and buried itself in the shutter two inches from my head. I heard your mother scream; and though I whipped instantly out of range and into a corner, she was there, so to speak, before me, with her arms about my neck, and beseeching to know if I were hurt. I felt that I could stand to be shot at every day and all day long, with such marks of solicitude for a reward; and I was still busy returning her caresses, in complete forgetfulness of our situation, when the voice of Northmour recalled me to myself. Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression and prepared against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look of relief, upon his face. He took up the lamp which stood beside him on the table, and turned to us with an air of some excitement. "There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they going to butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take you for him, and fire at you for your own beaux yeux ?" "They took me for him, for certain," I replied. "I am near as tall, and my head is fair." "I am going to make sure," returned Northmour; and he stepped up to the window, holding the lamp above his head, and stood there, quietly affronting death, for half a minute. Your mother sought to rush forward and pull him from the place of danger; but I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her back by force. "Yes," said Northmour, turning coolly from the window; "it's only Huddlestone they want.” 'Oh, Mr. Northmour!" cried your mother; but found no more to add; the temerity she had just witnessed seeming beyond the reach of words. 66 He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with the fire of triumph in his eyes; and I understood at once that he had thus hazarded his life merely to attract your mother's notice, and depose me from my position as the hero of the hour. He snapped his fingers. "The fire is only beginning," said he. "When they warm up to their work, they won't be so par "An air-gun," he said. "They wish to make ticular." no noise." I put your mother aside, and looked at him. He was standing with his back to the fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew, by the black look on his face, that passion was boiling within. I had seen just such a look before he attacked me, that March night, in the adjoining chamber; and though I could make every allowance for his anger, I confess I trembled for the consequences. I glanced at your mother with warning in my eyes; but she misinterpreted my glance, and continued to cling to me and make much of me. Northmour gazed straight before him; but he could see with the tail of his eye what we were doing, and his temper kept rising like a gale of wind. With regular battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an internecine strife within the walls began to daunt me. A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. From the window we could see the figure of a man in the moonlight; he stood motionless, his face uplifted to ours, and a rag of something white on his extended arm; and as we looked right down upon him, though he was a good many yards distant on the links, we could see the moonlight glitter on his eyes. He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, in a key so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of the pavilion, and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was the same voice that had already shouted "Traditore!" through the shutters of the diningroom; this time it made a complete and clear statement. If the traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all others should be spared; if not, no one should escape to tell the tale. "Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" kiss; I'm glad I had it; and now you can take asked Northmour, turning to the bed. Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, at least, had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he replied at once, and in such tones as I have never heard elsewhere, save from a delirious patient, adjured and besought us not to desert him. It was the most hideous and abject performance that my imagination can conceive. "Enough, you dirty hound!” cried Northmour; and then he threw open the window, leaned out into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with a total forgetfulness of what was done by your mother, poured out upon the ambassador a string of the most abominable raillery both in English and Italian, and bade him be gone where he had come from. I believe that nothing so delighted Northmour at that moment as the thought that we must al! infallibly perish before the night was out. Meantime the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, and disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand-hills. "They make honorable war," said Northmour. "They are all gentlemen and soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could change sides -you and I, Frank, and you too, Missy my darling-and leave the jackal on the bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look shocked! We are all going post to what they call eternity, and may as well be above-board while there's time. As far as I'm concerned, If I could first strangle Huddlestone, and then get Clara in my arms, I could die with some pride and satisfaction. And as it is, by God, I'll have a kiss!" Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely embraced and repeatedly kissed your resisting mother. Next moment I had pulled him away with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He laughed loud and long, and I feared his wits had given way under the strain; for even in the best of days he had been a sparing and quiet laugher. "Now, Frank," said he, when his mirth was somewhat appeased, "it's your turn. Here's my hand. Good-bye; farewell!" Then, seeing me stand rigid and indignant, and holding your ⚫ mother to my side-" Man!" he broke out, "are you angry? Did you think we were going to die with all the airs and graces of society? I took a another if you like, and square accounts.' I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I did not seek to dissemble. "As you please," said he. You've been a prig in life; a prig you'll die." And with that he sat down in a chair, a rifle over his knee, and amused himself with snapping the lock; but I could see that his ebullition of light spirits (the only one I ever knew him to display) had already come to an end, and was succeeded by a sullen, scowling humor. All this time our assailants might have been entering the house, and we been none the wiser; we had in truth, one and all, forgotten the danger that so imminently overhung our days. But just then Mr. Huddlestone uttered a cry, and leaped from the bed. I asked what was wrong. "Fire!" he cried. "They have set the house on fire." Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I ran through the doors of communication with the study. The room was illuminated by a red and angry light. Almost at the moment of our entrance a tower of flame arose in front of the window, and, with a tingling report, a pane fell inward on the carpet. They had set fire to the lean-to out-house, where Northmour used to nurse his negatives. "Let us try "Hot work," said Northmour. in your old room. threw up the case We ran thither in a breath, ment, and looked forth. Along the whole back wall of the pavilion piles of fuel had been arranged and kindled; and it is probable they had been drenched with mineral oil, for, in spite of the morning's rain, they all burned bravely. The fire had taken a firm hold already on the outhouse, which blazed higher and higher every moment; the back door was in the centre of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves we could see, as we looked upward, were already smouldering, for the roof overhung, and was supported by considerable beams of wood. At the same time, hot, pungent, and choking volumes of smoke began to fill the house. There was not a human being to be seen to right or left. "Ah, well!" said Northmour, "here's the end, thank God." And we returned to My Uucle's Room. Mr. Huddlestone was putting on his boots with an air of determination such as I had not hitherto observed. Your mother stood close by him, with her cloak in both hands ready to throw about her shoulders, and a strange look in her eyes, as if she were half hopeful, half doubtful of her father. "Well, boys and girls," said Northmour, "how about a sally? The oven is heating; it is not good to stay here and be baked; and, for my part, I want to come to my hands with them, and be done." "There is nothing else left," I replied. And both your mother and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a very different intonation, added, "Nothing." As we went down-stairs the heat was excessive, and the roaring of the fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached the passage before the stairs window fell in, a branch of flame shot brandishing through the aperture, and the interior of the pavilion became lit up with that dreadful and fluctuating glare. At the same moment we heard the fall of something heavy and inelastic in the upper story. The whole pavilion, it was plain, had gone alight like a box of matches, and now not only flamed sky-high to land and sea, but threatened with every moment to crumble and fall in about our ears. to dive, he ran straight forward out of the pavilion. "Here am I!" he cried-"Huddlestone! Kill me, and spare the others!" His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden enemies; for Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize Clara between us, one by each arm, and to rush forth to his assistance, ere anything further had taken place. But scarce had we passed the threshold when there came near a dozen reports and flashes from every direction among the hollows of the links. Mr. Huddlestone staggered, uttered a weird and freezing cry, threw up his arms over his head, and fell backward on the turf. "Traditore! avengers. Traditore!" cried the invisible And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, so rapid was the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and horrible noise accompanied the collapse, and a vast volume of flame went soaring up to heaven. It must have been visible at that moment from twenty miles out at sea, from the shore at Graden Wester, and far inland from the peak of Graystiel, the most eastern summit of the Caulder hills. Your grandfather, although God knows what were his obsequies, had a fine pyre at the moment of his death. Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, who had already refused a firearm, CHAPTER IX.-TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED put us behind him with a manner of command. "Let Clara open the door," said he. So, if they fire a volley, she will be protected. And in the meantime stand behind me. I am the scape. goat; my sins have found me out." I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with my pistol ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid whisper; and I confess, horrible as the thought may seem, I despised him for thinking of supplications in a moment so critical and thrilling. In the meantime, your mother, who was dead white but still possessed her faculties, had displaced the barricade from the front door. Another moment, and she had pulled it open. Firelight and moonlight illuminated the links with confused and changeful lustre, and far away against the sky we could see a long trail of glowing smoke. Mr. Huddlestone struck Northmour and myself a backhander in the chest; and while we were thus for the moment incapacitated from action, lifting his arms above his head like one about OUT HIS THREAT. I SHOULD have the greatest difficulty to tell you what followed next after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I look back upon it, mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, like the struggles of a sleeper in a nightmare. Your mother, I remember, uttered a broken sigh and would have fallen forward to earth, had not Northmour and I supported her insensible body. I do not think we were attacked; I do not remember even to have seen an assailant; and I believe we deserted Mr. Huddlestone without a glance. I only remember running like a man in a panic, now carrying your mother altogether in my own arms, now sharing her weight with Northmour, now scuffling confusedly for the possession of that dear burden. Why we should have made for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how we reached it, are points lost forever to my recollection. The first moment. at which I became definitely sure your mother had been suffered to fall against the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were tumbling together on the ground, and he, with contained ferocity, was striking for my head with the butt of his revolver. He had already twice wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the consequent loss of blood that I am tempted to attribute the sudden clearness of my mind. I caught him by the wrist. "Northmour," I remember saying, "you can kill me afterward. Let us first attend to Clara." He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the words passed my lips, when he leaped to his feet and ran toward your mother; and the next moment he was straining her to his heart and covering her unconscious hands and face with his caresses. "Shame!" I cried. mour!" ashamed of in my life, though, as your mother used to say, I knew that my kisses would be always welcome were she dead or living; down I fell again upon my knees, parted the hair from her forehead, and with the dearest respect laid my lips for a moment on that cold brow. It was such a caress as a father might have given; it was such a one as was not unbecoming from a man soon to die to a woman already dead. "And now," said I, "I am at your service, Mr. Northmour." But I saw, to my surprise, that he turned his back upon me. "Do you hear ?" I asked. "Yes," said he, "I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. If not, go on and save Clara. All "Shame to you, North- is one to me." I did not wait to be twice bidden; but stoopAnd, giddy though I still was, I struck him re- ing again over your mother, continued my efforts peatedly upon the head and shoulders. to revive her. She still lay white and lifeless; I He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the began to fear that her sweet spirit had indeed fled broken moonlight. beyond recall, and horror and a sense of utter "I had you under, and I let you go," said he; desolation seized upon my heart. I called her by "and now you strike me! Coward!" name with the most endearing inflections; I chafed and beat her hands; now I laid her head low, now supported it against my knee; but all seemed to be in vain, and the lids still lay heavy on your mother's eyes. "You are the coward," I retorted. "Did she wish your kisses while she was still sensible of what she wanted? Not she! And now she may be dying; and you waste this precious time licking her face like a dog. Stand aside, and let me help her." He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; then suddenly he stepped aside. "Help her, then," said he. I threw myself on my knees beside your mother, and loosened, as well as I was able, her dress and corset; but while I was thus engaged a grasp descended on my shoulder. "Keep your hands off her," said Northmour, fiercely. "Do you think I have no blood in my veins ?" "Northmour," I cried, "if you will neither help her yourself, nor let me do so, do you know that I shall have to kill you?" "That is better!" he cried. "Let her die also, where's the harm? Step aside from that girl, and stand up to fight!" "Northmour," I said, "there is my hat. For God's sake bring some water from the spring." Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water. "I have brought it in my own," he said. "You do not grudge me the privilege?" "Northmour," I was beginning to say, as I laved your mother's head and breast; but he interrupted me savagely. “Oh, you hush up!" he said. "The best thing you can do is to say nothing." I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being swallowed up in concern for my dear love and her condition; so I continued in silence to do my best toward her recovery, and, when the hat was empty, returned it to him, with one word, -"More." He had, perhaps, gone several times upon this errand, when your mother reopened her "You will observe," said I, half rising, "that eyes. I have not kissed her yet." "I dare you to !" he cried. I do not know what possessed me, my dear children; it was one of the things I am most VOL. XVI.-3 66 Now," said he, "since she is better, you can spare me, can you not? I wish you a good-night, Mr. Cassilis." And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made a fire for your mother, for I had now no fear of the Italians, who had even spared all the little possessions left in my encampment; and, broken as she was by the excitement and the hideous catastrophe of the evening, I managed, in one way or another, by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, and such simple remedies as I could lay my hand on,—to bring her back to some composure of mind and strength of body. We were soon talking, sadly, perhaps, but not unhopefully, of our joint future; and I, with my arm about her waist, sought to inspire her with a sense of help and protection from one who, not only then, but till the day she died, would have joyfully sacrificed his life to do her pleasure. Day had already come, when a sharp "Hist!" sounded from the thicket. I started from the ground; but the voice of Northmour was heard adding, in the most tranquil tones: "Come here, Cassilis, and alone; I want to show you something." I consulted your mother with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit permission, left her alone, and clambered out of the den. At some distance off I saw Northmour leaning against an elder; and, as soon as he perceived me, he began walking seaward. I had almost overtaken him as he reached the outskirts of the wood. "Look," said he, pausing. A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. The light of the morning lay cold and clear over that well-known scene. The pavilion was but a blackened wreck; the roof had fallen in, one of the gables had fallen out; and, far and near, the face of the links was cicatrized with little patches of burned furze. Thick smoke still went straight upward in the windless air of the morning, and a great pile of ardent cinders filled the bare walls of the house, like coals in an open grate. Close by the islet a schooner-yacht lay to, and a well-manned boat was pulling vigorously for the shore. "The Red Earl!" I cried. twelve hours too late!" were nursing Clara; but this morning-heretake your pistol. No thanks!" he cried, holdin up his hand. "I do not like them; that is th only way you can annoy me now." He began to walk forward across the links t meet the boat, and I followed a step or tw behind. In front of the pavilion I paused to se where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; but ther was no sign of him, nor so much as a trace of blood. "Safe in Graden Floe," said Northmour. "Four minutes and a half, Frank! And the Italians? Gone, too; they were night-birds, and they have all flown before daylight." He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the beach. "No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her to Graden House?" "Thank you," replied I; "I shall try to get her to the minister's at Graden Wester." The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a sailor jumped ashore with a line in his hand. "Wait a minute, lads!" cried Northmour; and then lower and to my private ear: "You had better say nothing of all this to her," he added. "On the contrary," I broke out, "she shall know everything that I can tell." "You do not understand," he returned, with an air of great dignity. "It will be nothing to her; she expects it of me." man. Thus, my dear children, had your mother exerted her influence for good upon this violent Years and years after, she used to call that speech her patent of nobility; and "she expects it of me" became a sort of by-word in our married life, and was often more powerful than an argument to mould me to her will. "Good-bye!" said he, with a nod. "Excuse me," said he. "It's small, I know; but I can't push things quite so far as that. I "The Red Earl don't wish any sentimental business, to sit by your hearth a white-haired wanderer, and all that. "Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?" Quite the contrary; I hope to God I shall never asked Northmour. I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly pale. My revolver had been taken from me. "You see I have you in my power," he continued. "I disarmed you last night while you again clap eyes on either one of you." "Well, God bless you, Northmour!" I said, heartily. "Oh, yes," he returned; "He'll bless me. You let Him alone." He walked down the beach; and the man who |