402 The White Spectre of Malinanza ; [MAY, 



whose lofty features had, not an instant before, worn the polished smile 

 of what would in these days be termed gentlemanly urbanity, that 

 Alberto almost rose from his seat with an indefinable sentiment of dis- 

 trust, if not dislike. " Sit down, boy sit down ; what moves thee ?" 

 said the Castellan, endeavouring, but without his usual success, 

 to banish from his countenance its darker expressions. " I started, 

 sire, to mark the change on your brow when I gave to your hands 

 that dangerous packet. I gather from the discourse of mine host 

 of yesterday, and from the kindling of my father's eye, that the toils 

 are spreading anew for the d irk lord of Malinanza, the hated enemy of 

 our house and race. O ! my sire, shall this wild feud never have an end ? 

 Is it not a shame that Christian men should live in deadly hate, like the 

 unbaptized foes of our Venetian neighbours ? Nay, smile not, father ; I 

 am no priestly advocate for a senseless and slavish submission to every 

 unmerited indignity. I am no womanish coward, that preacheth peace 

 because he feareth to make war. The sword of the bravest of Europe's 

 sovereigns gave me knighthood as the due meed of a stout hand and a 

 bold heart. Yet, my sire, I do profess to you that I cannot enter into 

 the personal, the vengeful feelings, which make the vassals of the same 

 government and the denizens of the same soil the haters and the 

 destroyers of each other." " Ho ! Vincenzo ! call hither our chaplain/' 

 said the baron, sardonically ; " here is discourse might mend his style of 

 preaching. In what school hast thou learnt the sweet meekness that 

 chimes so well with thy martial gait and lofty bearing ? Oh, thou art 

 all too patient, soft, and virtuous, to be fitting foe for such a flesh- 

 inshrined demon as the lord of Malinanza. Dost thou know him, sir 

 preacher knight ? v " By person, surely no, as my sire well wotteth," 

 answered Alberto, with filial patience " by fame, too well ; and I 

 hold him if report speak truly for a man of dark brow, and darker 

 heart ; yet I hold him also for one who hath somewhat to forgive at our 

 hands, and whose evil passions might with better grace be told over by 

 any other than by the head of the house of Ferrarido." 



The Castellan's countenance softened for a moment without an effort 

 on the part of its owner, and he eyed the young man with a gaze in 

 which surprise had certainly the largest expression. He changed the 

 conversation, however, for a few moments, and then, rising from the 

 table, took the light from the torch-bearer, and himself conducted his 

 son to the chamber appointed him. As they entered it, the knight 

 turned to his parent, and said, with much earnestness, not unmingled 

 with dignity, " Although, my sire, I have protested against any venge- 

 ful and unchristian efforts to compass our dark rival's ruin, yet let me 

 here call Heaven to witness, that I will, as a true knight and a loyal 

 son, stand by my father's side, even in the most -fearful hour of peril, to 

 repel every aggression of his enemies ; and that I will not yield to the 

 loudest brawler against the lord of Malinanza in the defence of the just 

 claims of our house, and in the firm and bold protection of my father's 

 rights against all who would abridge them. Let the proud lord of 

 Malinanza try me, by one trespass on my parent's privileges by one 

 effort to bring dishonour on the grey hairs of my sire, and he shall see 

 that he who was least forward to deprive him of his own rights, 

 is his firmest, his most inflexible opponent, when he dares to ride trium- 

 phant over those of another." ( f Now by the bones of all the goodly saints 

 in Christendom, I thank thee, young man," exclaimed the Castellan, 



