.1
i THE HESPERIAN
THE HUNTING AT ROSSNESS.
(contributed.)
How tho blue sky flashed that day! Was and, straightway, before I might question,
it ever before so bright? The autumn wind, he was gone.
pure with the night's frost, came glad "Come, Geraldis," I said, "thou shall
through tho scattering leaves. not too cold, reiul ine the letter, but let us go by ourselves
either; for my new red cloak that my father to my tower-room, where none may troublo
had given mo on my birthday was thick and ns," So wo left tho others, and raced
warm, and fitted snugly enough, oven if tho breathless up to the turret-chamber, that wo
burrowing wind would toy with tho skirts of called our own, and threw ourselves panting
it, and my hair was all coiled close so that side by side on tho rug of bearskin before
hardly a lock of it might bo blown astray. the roaring fire. "Read it," I said, "and
We were like children, my waiting-woman quickly, for I am mad with eagerness."
and I, out in tho castle garden, where the "Nay, wait," she answerod, "but a
leaves ran riot with tho wind, whirling and moment, till my breath bo come again."
scurrying, now across the rain-washed paths go for a gpace sho lay panting and loosened
and ruined flower-beds, now soaring high th(J fastenillg8 0f her bodice. At last she
against tho turret-walls and falling into the tQok np th(J letter? ftnd broke thc geal) and
circled, wind-ruffled water of tho moat be- Mad u 8wiftly and without 8tnmbling, for she
neath. Down they came, leaf after leaf, wag wejj tangilt
from tho poplars that stood ranged like tall ' Liston she an8weredi for it run8 thus:
sentinels forgotten at their posts, leaf after t To my ady Aice . It is ft gad ettQr that j
leaf fluttering and falling with a laugh of the wito theeand of sad prG6age of thinJ,B
wind as they fell, and with a loud shriek of before thon receivG thiSi the e;d
victory as the last red reluctant leaf went shall b(J determined Kll0W that last lligllt
spinning from the black boughs of the old Lord of r tho Scot caraG t0 ine,
oak that raps by night upon the window of a - a i i. i 1 a
, , . C ,, b and bade mo give over my claim to thy hand,
the Ghost's Walk. , . . , J , , ,, J . .,
for some ancient vow s sake that thy father
How wo ran and danced and sang snatches jmd BWOrn. and tliy father urged tho same,
of song, and laughed, loudest of all when for this is a man of power and command
tho wind blew Lillian's hair loose all over mnn,.,, i,iB R,.nffici, f;nn aai t;,,.
"'"""S "lu "WHO" JJltHVlJ. iillU J., Jvuunn-t,
how thy heart was set, said firmly, 'nay.'
Whereupon he gave me the challenge to fight
with swords before the noon to-day, upon
Bentham Moor by the oak coppice at the
crossways. Therefore, I write this for a
message of hope or of farewell; and, if this
word be my last, I vish thee a good life and
a soon death, for thy love's sake and for his
sake that loves thee, who sets this Iubs to the
paper for thy lips, praying thee to await him
if he bo living, or, if he be dead, to hold hie
her eyes, till she cried for vexation, and
laughed sho could not say why. I remem
ber I had just caught Geraldis, and was
holding her fast, trying to twist some red
leaves into her hair, and we were boih laugh
ing and struggling, when wo heard footsteps
approaching, and we stopped and stood apart
and upright and dignified, not to be caught
in unworthy and unmannerly behavior.
It wasGilsey, my fat er's messenger. He
had a strange look in his face, and came up
slowly as if loath to speak, holding a folded love a little in remeraberance, till the day
Hupoi m inn nana. como of rennitingi,
; My lady Alice," ho said to me, "I It was not fear that I fed t, nor horror. It
bring a letter from the Knight Dubois," was only wonder, a wonder blind and insup-