THE HESPERIAN
U
blighted by the sea wind, or gallop on the
great gray horse over the stony lields about
the castle; but it was not safe to wander far,
for fear of our wild Scots neighbors.
Save in the first days of my returned con
sciousness my husband and 1 met little.
Constant warfare- with the neighboring clans
busied him, and L had long leisure to med
itate on my position. No ono came near
me, save the silent old woman and the half
deaf old man who saddled my horse. 1
knew the whole story now, and meditated on
it, and wondered if the end might in any
way be altered. My husband hated me, 1
knew, and 1 saw that my hate made little
difference to him. lie had me in his power,
and it was only a question of time till the
bird should be tamed to its cajje. . All dis
courtesies possible he did me. He denied
my request for a maid servant, and when L
prayed for leave to quit the house and take
the air, he answered with a sneer.
So things went on, and the autnm wore
to winter. The days grew colder, and the
sun shone more often. Once or twice there
came flurries of snow, and at times in the
silence of the night the voice of the sea ran"
loud from the sea-beach miles away. I
might not leave the house now, but sat a
prisoner h my room, desolate and disconso
late. One morning the old woman came early
to my door. "My lord says you are to ride
with him to the hunt to-day," she snarled,
and went her way. A change at the least,
at least a road to the fresh air whence I had
been so long a prisoner. I made ready in
haste, and went down to the court. There
stood the earl, ready to mount, impatient at
my delay. He was dressed in a light hunt
ing dress, a little unfitted, I thought, for
his massive form and square face with the
heavy moustache and frowning brows where
a battle-helmet were far more in place than
the light-blue cap.
Out we rode at last, neither speaking a
word. J rode first; he followed with j,i8
hawk on his arm, and his hound running by
his horse's side, a lino figure, I could not
but think, even while I hated him so. At a
widening of the path by a ford he came to
my side. "Is my lady fond of hunting, or
had they no good sport in her own land J"
"My lord should know that best' 1 an
swered. "Has he forgotten the noble game
he slew by craft on Bentham Moor ? Never
in Scottish land have T seen stag so goodly
as that.''
His face darkened with anger. Ho raised
his whip, and with the handle struck me
lightly on the cheek.
"Have that for thy wise answer, my lady,
nor think that a Scotch lord's wife may be
an Englishman's love."
1 answered nothing. I do not think I
shod a tear. I felt the blow burning on my
check, and I sat silent and waited. He fell
back to his place behind me. I do not think
he believed that I was angry. He knew
how to tame a woman, my lord of Rossness.
There came a turn in the road, a sudden
winding and plunge into a little wooded
ravine, hollowed by a tiny brook, whose
black pools, broken by white little cascades,
wore strewn with the yellow willow-leaves.
The opposite slope was sudden, and the path
was shadowed by black over-arching of fir
and spruce. I had crossed the brook, and
was entering the cavern of woven shrubbery,
when my eye was caught by a sudden glint
of steel far in among the branches, a flash
as of the sun on moving armor, and, as I
looked closer, I saw the red silk pennon of
the house of Altrith.
An ambuscade! There they waited. A
moment more and they would be upon him.
One cry, one word, one gesture, and he was
safe, the slightest souud or sign, but I
sat silent, and turned neither to the right
nor to the left. On I rode, deeper and
deeper into the wood, and listened to the
beating of his horse's hoofs up the road be
hind me. I had no thought of mercy. 'Re
member Bontham Moor," I whispered to
myself, and waited.
On he came ; step after step 1 heard his
horse advance one, two, three, -and then