Anonymous

“ Hildebrand could tell, not only of strange lands, but of a strange world—of the new hemisphere, which, by the perseverance of a few daring adventurers, had just been opened to the enterprise of Europe, and added to the limits of the earth. Evaline could listen, question, and smile her gratification: the relation of “the dangers he had passed,” both by flood and field, and under every variety of fortune, unfolded to her view a new picture of life and an enlarged idea of human character. ”

“ The sputtering of the rain on the veranda, a few feet above her head, made her thrill with fear; if she sought to relieve her wearied limbs by changing her position, either by supporting her arm on the hand-rail, or by leaning against the door, the rustling of her drapery, whenever she moved, turned her heart cold, and conjured up before her the most morbid and distracting fancies. ”

“ Though taken by surprise, Hildebrand was not confounded by this occurrence; and after a brief pause, he advanced towards the two unfriendly observers with perfect confidence.
“A good even to thee, Senhor!” he said, addressing Don Felix.
“Such deeds as thine,” answered Don Felix, sneeringly, “give a savour of vileness to the sweetest even. Hast thou no shame, Sir, that thou canst thus meet mine eye unmoved?”
“I’faith, thou hast a foul tongue, Sir Spaniard,” returned Hildebrand; “and only that thou art kinsman to good Sir Edgar, I would straight clean it with my rapier.” ”

“ Inez viewed the arrival of Don Gonzalez with still greater concern. She had known him from her childhood, when she was left, with a large dower, to his uncontrolled guardianship, by his younger brother, her father. Being thus entirely at his disposal, and knowing him to be a man of unscrupulous passions, and a jealous and vindictive temper, she naturally saw the danger in its blackest colours, and was perfectly overwhelmed with anxiety and apprehension. ”

“ It was a happy circumstance that Hildebrand fulfilled this injunction with promptitude, or the nervous agitation of the cavalier’s extended arm, not to mention the tremor of his voice, which, in his utter surprise and consternation, the gaoler did not observe, would have made it immediately apparent that his prowess and resolution might be easily overcome. Before the gaoler could collect himself, however, Hildebrand, favoured by his bewilderment, sprang boldly on his chest, and grappled him in both his arms. They struggled for a few moments with fearful earnestness and energy. ”

“ No one was in sight, and she resolved, though not without hesitation, and many lingering fears respecting the safety of Hildebrand, to endeavour to return unperceived to the house.
She set forward with a trembling heart, but she grew more confident as she progressed, and discovered nothing around, so far as she could distinguish, to indicate the presence of a single living creature. Her heart quite bounded as she arrived in front of the house, and she mounted the flight of steps at the door, under the shelter of the veranda, with a sense of recovered buoyancy. ”

“ But though he was so anxious to hear what she had to say, Hildebrand’s attention was not so wholly engrossed by this object, above every other, that he could look on Inez herself without emotion. Her appearance was not calculated to encourage or confirm his reviving fortitude. On throwing back her cowl, her long black hair, which was wont to be arranged with such exquisite taste, appeared loose and dishevelled, and had evidently been pushed behind her small ears with a rude and careless haste. ”

“ May I think that thou wilt sometime bear me in remembrance?”
“I were ungrateful, Sir, ever to forget thee,” said Evaline, with some emotion.
“No, no, but most generous to bear me in memory,” answered Hildebrand. “Howbeit, we are to part. Sir Edgar, methinks, has now no cause to fear, and will be set at liberty to-morrow. But the course of human affairs is uneven, and cannot be relied on. ”

“ As she closed the chamber-door, she turned round, and fixed her eyes full on the face of her gallant.
“Thou art not an Andalusian,” she said, wistfully surveying his features, “nor art thou from Catalonia: wast born in Spain at all?”
“No, lady,” answered Hildebrand: “I am from the North.”
“Ah, methought thou hadst not our accent,” returned Donna Inez; “and yet, though they be foreign, thine accents are good, and become thee right well. Be the Northerns true?”
“Thou wilt find me true, lady,” replied Hildebrand. ”

“ Who hath been here, I say?”
“Dost think I would wrong thee, then?” answered the dame. “No! no!—not for my life!”
“Who hath been here?” demanded Shedlock, seizing her by the collar of her bodice.
“Nay, never hurt me, husband!” replied the dame, shrinking a little. [101] “Only say thou wilt forgive me—say thou wilt not be angered, and I will tell thee.”
“Woman! I have a mind to dash thee down,” rejoined Shedlock, giving her a slight shake, “and to trample thee under foot, as the angels of darkness trample on Judas. ”

“ It is hope—often, indeed, founded on the dictates of piety, or the whispers of reason, but still hope—hope that we may yet, with all our afflictions, rely for aid on the presiding hand of Providence, or that we may find circumstances more supportable than we had thought—it is still hope, in whatever form, that lends the soothing balm to every sorrow, and the first breath of buoyancy to every sinking heart. ”

“ Hearts that never knew the melting influence of pity, or experienced the thrill of fear, but met every vicissitude with a stern and unbending front, have been cowed and [283] overwhelmed by their first whispers, and have been hurried on, by an enlarged and more intimate fellowship, into distraction and despair. They are a sort of living death, enclosing the spark of life in a walled grave, where the air, so sweet and buoyant without, is pestilence, and one’s breath corruption. ”

“ His selfishness, dissimulation, and avarice, however disguised, would have deprived him of her respect; and his tyrannical disposition would probably have provoked her contempt. But, secluded from all society, having no channel but him for the sweetest effusions of her amiable and gentle nature, her love was without restraint, and she could see in his heart no shade of evil, or trace of blemish.
It is not always that an individual’s temper, as far as regards its principal characteristics, may be seen in the face; but in Dame Shedlock’s, it was written distinctly. ”

“ All this time, the young Spanish cavalier, with a singular and unaccountable indecision, had remained perfectly quiescent. He seemed, indeed (if the truth must be told) , to be overwhelmed with fear, and to possess [308] neither the will nor the power to interpose. But his irresolute disposition did not continue. As he saw the long knife of the gaoler raised above Hildebrand’s back, on the point of dealing him a deadly wound, his indecision appeared to vanish, and, whether from the impulse of the moment, or a more manly agency, his spirit to revive.
“Jesu! he will stab him!” ”

“ Adversity is the only true touchstone of human worth and integrity. It may require some limited degree of excellence, on certain occasions, to deport ourselves becomingly in a time of prosperity, and the smiles of the highest good fortune sometimes distract and intoxicate. But adversity, with a relentless hand, and a determination that nothing can subdue, probes the heart to the quick, and develops every individual quality of which it is composed.
The apprehension of her father on a [121] charge of murder fell like a thunderbolt on Evaline de Neville. ”

“ It is a difficult thing to tear the affections from one who, in times past, has been their [92] stay and centre; and it may be doubted whether the heart can ever wholly alienate a once-cherished object; but that love, which comprehends the softest feelings of our nature, bound together by the most tender memories, should be proof to a continuous succession of outrageous assaults, and survive all fellowship and reciprocity, seems almost impossible. Yet Dame Shedlock, in her attachment to her husband, realised this seeming anomaly. ”

“ But Hildebrand was only a gallant, not a lover; and he was at no [193] loss for words—earnest and musical, too, though lacking in sincerity—in which he could address his mistress.
Readiness of compliment is a characteristic trait, if one may so speak, of that passion which springs only from admiration, in contradistinction to that which flows, with a gentler wave, and a more constant and regular current, from the purer source of affection. In the one passion, all is but skin-deep; in the other, it is heart-deep: the first is, like the body, mortal ”

“ There might be seen, in the faces of the several persons scattered around, the indications of the most conflicting sentiments—the traces of hope, sorrow, love, eagerness, and expectation. There, among others, stood the father, whispering his parting injunctions to his child; the wife giving her farewell prayers to her husband; the lover pouring hope into the heart of his sobbing [164] mistress; and the daring, thoughtless, and eager adventurer, free from care, and overflowing with buoyancy, caroling some light love-song, and looking forward with impatience to a time of peril and action. ”

“ That a sudden blow to an even and prosperous life should fall with severity, and be met by dejection, is no more than one might expect; but if it unman him who has been adversity’s companion, and, in his progress onward, walked hand in hand with all the accidents of war, it excites our surprise, and scarcely seems reasonable, or possible. But, however this may be borne out by ordinary cases, it is no less true, in the particular instance under consideration, that Hildebrand did not meet the passing calamity with any degree of fortitude. ”

“ She did not make any reply to the reproof of Shedlock, but, raising her small brown eyes, she looked him full in the face, and thus waited whatever he might say further.
“Now I see in thee the iniquity of Jeroboam, which caused Israel to sin,” cried Shedlock. “Wilt thou take these beasts, or not?”
The woman sulkily stepped forward, and, with some show of impatience, caught up the bridles of the two horses, and twisted them round her brawny arm. Sir Walter and Shedlock, without taking any notice of her demeanour, then alighted, and passed through the porch into the house. ”

“ By the time these particulars were arranged, the two horsemen had arrived at Bethlehem Hall, the Puritan sheriff’s residence. On their drawing nigh the mansion, a short, squat woman, who had been aroused by the sound of the horses’ feet, and had come forth from mere curiosity, made her appearance at the abutting porch, for the purpose of ascertaining, by a survey of their persons, who and what they were. Having satisfied her curiosity, she was about to turn into the house again, but Shedlock, happening to glance that way, discerned her retreating figure, and shouted to her to stop. ”

“ At a time when the members of the Roman Church were taught, by an authority their religion declared to be infallible, that the Queen of England was no more than an usurper, and that it would be no sin to remove her by assassination, and when the conspiracy which led to the execution of the Queen of Scots was still fresh in remembrance,—at this time, a Roman Catholic accused, however unjustly, of murdering an emissary of the Lord Treasurer, might well apprehend that the scales of justice would not be held very evenly, or his judge be entirely free from enmity or prejudice. ”

“ A cluster of shrubs grew by the side of the footway, whence they swept back, with diminished volume, to the park-walk, where they were arrested by the tall trees with which the walk was bounded. They were well adapted to afford any person who sought to avoid observation a secure hiding-place, but they might, nevertheless, have failed to incur the particular attention of Hildebrand, only that a sound just now broke from them, like the tread of a man’s foot on dead leaves, that led him to believe they were not untenanted. ”

“ He cast one glance at the centre of the room, and there, to his utter amazement, he beheld Sir Walter seated quietly in an easy-chair, emitting from his mouth volumes of flame and smoke. Not doubting that this was some devilish enchantment, the terrified Puritan, with a trembling grasp, raised up the large flagon which he had in his hands, and threw the whole of its contents right into Sir Walter’s face. ”