light in which he had represented him to the gang, left him at full liberty to pursue his inclination."

He should then remain some time longer out, Osmond said, as he was at present in too perturbed a state of mind to allow of his remaining quietly in one place.

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Very well, signor, as you please,” answered Felisco, taking, as he spoke, the arm of Mactalla, to make him accompany him to the hall, not conceiving it prudent to let him remain with his master.

"But that's true," said Osmond, suddenly recollecting the circumstance, and detaining Felisco a few minutes longer, in order to have it explained to him, "I nearly forgot to mention the alarm which some part of Mactalla's conduct in my chamber gave me."

He then related what this was; and in reply learnt, that, like Macbeth, he had seen but an ideal dagger; the instrument which he took for one in the hand of Mactalla being but a key, entrusted to him by

Felisco, for the purpose of admitting himself into a remote part of the building, in which he had appointed to meet him, after his interview with his master, and which for the better securing, Mactalla had drawn from his bosom on approaching the bed, and accidently held in his hand, while groping about it.

On emerging from the building, Osmond happening to cast his eyes on the opposite terrace, upon which the moon shone full at the moment, was not a little startled at beholding the wall of it completely covered with armed men, whose weapons all appeared levelled against himself and his party.

"Good Heavens!" he involuntarily exclaimed," are we then betrayed? Yet if we are, what an extraordinay opinion must they have formed of us, to think it requisite to send such a number after us!"

"What do you mean, signor ?" asked Felisco, somewhat surprised.

"Mean!" repeated Osmond, pointing across the court.

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"What! you are speaking of the gentlemen yonder?" pursuing the direction of his eye. Ah, signor," with a loud laugh," believe me you never set eyes on a more harmless set. In a word, signor, they are made of what one has often reason to believe the human heart made ofstone, as a clever light would at once have permitted you to see."

Osmond could not help joining for a moment in the laugh, which both Mactalla and his friend enjoyed at his expense. They then separated.

Osmond, as soon as he was left to himself, proceeded to take the range of the solitary courts: but neither their stillness, nor yet the soft and shadowy light which prevailed throughout them, could impart a charm to soothe the anguish, to allay the agitation he experienced on account of the Raymonds. He continued wandering about like a troubled spirit, literally taking no rest or note of time, until the grey dawn of the eastern clouds gradually began to redden soon after which the trampling of

horses announcing the approach of the banditti, induced him to seek out a remote spot to secrete himself in from their observation. As soon as he was convinced they had entered the hall, and that of course he need fear no interruption from them, he ventured from his hiding-place, and as he did, was struck with mingled astonishment and awe at the splendid scene, rendered still more so by the rising sun striking full upon it, with the great body of the inner castle, surrounded with fair semi-circular towers, proudly swelling to the eye, and magnificently adorned with pinnacles, statues, and battlements, presented to his view.

But with the admiration it inspired was mingled that feeling of regret and sadness, which a mind of taste and sensibility involuntarily experiences at beholding any superb moment of art sinking into decay, such as it was evident this noble edifice was hastening to. The ravages of time were everywhere discernible on it-long grass overtopped its battlements, dusky

weeds crept round its arches, and heaps of rubbish strewed its courts.

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Yes," said Osmond, under the influence of the feeling just alluded to,

"Tears to mortality are not confined,

The fate of things affect the human mind.",

"But to this decay and desolation," he continued, "all the works of man, sooner or later, come; yet a little while, and the pile sinks into the dust, after the hand that raised it; the monument, which pride hoped would perpetuate its name for ever, drops into oblivion, like the name it was intended to record."

From the contemplation of the building he strolled away to the magnificent woods that rose above it,

Fitter haunts for meditation than were these, he could not possibly conceiveso impervious were their shades, so profound their solitude; a death-like stillness seemed to prevail throughout them; nor stroke of sturdy axe, nor woodman's cheer