tHE puritan's daughter. 253 



suited Broomsgrove for the last twenty years, that the friends of his 

 «arly youth had but rarely crossed his path. 



"It may be that your memory does not serve vou well, Sir Ralph; 

 but I do not forget that you have ever been a true friend to the state 

 though of late you have not taken an active part in its affairs. I would 

 the Lord m his goodness had willed that mv errand, at the present time, 

 should have been to speak of a more happy subject thah is my lot 

 lust now. •' 



Sir Ralph looked hard in the stranger's countenance, to see if he 

 could read in it aught that might indicate his meaning ; but there was 

 nothing m its severe air to give the least clue to what he was about 

 to say. 



" I have heard, Sir Ralph, that the Lord in his great goodness be- 

 stowed upon thee a wife, whom you cherished more than, unhappily, ra 

 the custom of many of us." 



Sir Ralph groaned audibly at thus hearing his wife mentioned, for 

 the wound occasioned by her death stUl rankled in his bosom. 



His guest seemed not to heed it, but continued:—"! have heard 

 too that she was untimely snatched from you, and since then you have 

 secluded yourself from the world, seeking consolation in the Lord She 

 teft you, as I have been told, a daughter— who, if all accounts speak 

 true, IS most fair and beautiful ; and that you have employed much 

 of your time m her education. But I much fear me, that it is not alto- 

 gether in a father's power properly to form a daughter's mind and di'^po- 

 sition. But this IS not to the purpose. Sir Ralph, you should be a man of 

 farm purpose and resolve,and able to control your feelings. Has the Lord 

 given you strength to listen to me, and yet keep a mastery over them ?" 



Sir Ralph looked in some amazement, scarce knowing how to under- 

 stand his guest. 



" This fair flower, upon whfch you have bestowed so "much care i« I 

 fear me. almostlost to you ; unless a just Heaven, in 'its kind mercv! now 

 stretches forth its hands towards your help. Your daughter has been 

 marked as a victim, by one of those profligates who delight to throw the 

 state into anarchy and confusion bv their wUd schemes and vicious 

 habits, regarding little the bonds that should unite society, and seeking 

 only the gratification of their wild ambition and ungovernable lust?. 

 Bat the Lord will not allow them to escape unpunished ; for a day of 

 retribution will come when they are least prepared to meet its justice 

 My friend, it grieves me much that one whom I esteem should suffer 

 from such curses of society. Your daughter has. I am pained to say 

 fallen into the power of one of these." 



" My daughter, sir > Speak, in Heaven's name, with more clear- 

 ness ; for, on mine honour, I understand you not!" 



"You cannot be ignorant, then, that Hereford contains amongst its 

 inhabitants one Sir Edward Eveleigh, a supporter of the Stuarts You 

 may. or you may not, know that he has a son. named Mark— as wild 

 and reckless as any from whom the Lord ever withheld his grace He 

 has striven all in his power to bring forth ill against the state, and has 

 been for months in the neighbourhood endeavouring to bring his plans 

 to maturity. But I have had my eyes upon him, and watched him 

 day by day ; and sorry am I to say, that, though his plans have been in 



