Aber-Merlyn. 295 



for her mother had been snatched away in her childhood, and the 

 little Eva was left wholly to the direction of her father. Thus had 

 she ever been a participator with her cousin in the instructions of her 

 parent, and a companion with him in his excursions. 



She was as lovely as the morning when it advances veiled with 

 roses; her features, perfect in their outline, bore the stamp peculiar 

 to her country ; her eyes were of the blackest jet, beneath the shade 

 of silken lashes; her lips, like the ruby, seemed to shed around but 

 sweetness ; and hair with raven tresses fell in graceful negligence 

 over her snow-white bosom, which, like the fresh leaf of the rose, 

 seemed all gentleness : yet within there slept the spirit of her ances- 

 tors, proud and lofty, and when once excited, when once the slum- 

 bering flame was kindled in her breast, her gentle form assumed a 

 nobler air, stately and commanding ; her features beamed with fire 

 and animation, all bespeaking her high and ancient lineage ; yet in 

 her usual mood was she all gentleness, altogether lovely. 



She was just entering on her eighteenth year the beauty and ad- 

 miration of the whole country. She was the theme of poesy and 

 song, and many a bard attuned his strings afresh to minstrel forth the 

 praises of the beauteous Eva. 



Many were the supplicants at the shrine of loveliness and wealth 

 that tendered their homage, and many a scion of a noble house knelt 

 at her feet ; but she rejected all their temptations of rank and fortune, 

 for she had already fixed her affections upon her orphan cousin. 



Among the numerous suitors came the son of Hugh de Percy, con- 

 fident of success ; he had thought, with all the overweening pride of 

 the English barons, that for him it sufficed to offer his hand and titles. 

 He did not for one moment fancy that the daughter of a Cambrian 

 lord would dare refuse, and when he saw all the others rejected, in 

 the exulting vanity of his bosom he imagined that for him alone 

 was reserved that lily hand. But when he had pressed his suit, and 

 that with ardour, and was himself rejected, he returned home filled 

 with indignation, " that he, the son of a lord of England, a noble of 

 the realm, should be refused by a Welsh girl, the daughter of 

 whom? no princely .noble, no royal peer, but a rebel chieftain, a 

 subject too of England, an outlawed bandit, whose only protection 

 was his castle, whose only safeguard were his walls." He breathed 

 ten thousand curses on his head, and vowed a deep and speedy 

 revenge. The fourth day saw him at the head of a chosen force, 

 his passion in no degree subsided; by quick and hasty marches he 

 hoped to surprise the castle and carry off his prize. 



The night was beautiful when Eva was walking with her cousin 

 on the terrace of the castle, not a breath of air disturbed the quiet 

 of the scene, the heavens were studded with stars, attendants on the 

 queen of light, who moved in rejoicing silence through the vast con- 

 cave that 



" Seemed like a canopy which love had spread 

 To curtain her sleeping world." 



Suddenly their attention was arrested by some object that appeared 

 to move along the road ; the distance, however, and the foliage of 



