.'ASl'KK ST. Alin-N. .{01 



ilcrmed to be the tittinj; time for lal)()ur and for pastime, and 

 nij^lit tlie appointed time for natural and healtlifnl sleep, the 

 dawn was wont to hrij;hten beheld by other eyes than those of 

 elowns anil milkmaids, and the u'ay son^s of the matntinal 

 birds were listened to by ears that could appreciate their 

 untaujcht melodies. 



" And now, just as tin- stable eloek was strikin-; fmr, the 

 i;reat oaken door of the old Hall was ihiown open with a 

 vijjorons swinir that made it rattle on its hinges, and Jasper 

 St. Anbyn came bounding' out into the fresh morning air, with 

 n foot iiiJ chtstie as that of the mountain roe, sinj^inj; a snatch 

 uf soiue ((uaint old ballad. 



" He was dressed simply in a close-fitting jacket and tight 

 hose of dark-green cloth, without any lace or cnd)roidery, light 

 boots of untanned leather, and a broad-leafed hat, with a single 

 eagle's feather thrust carelessly through the band, lie wore 

 neither cloak nor sword, thougli it was a period at which 

 gentlemen rarely went abroad without these, their distinctive 

 attributes; but in the broad black belt which girt his roundi'd 

 waist he carried a stout wood-knife with a buckhorn hilt ; and 

 over his shoulder there swunjx from a leathern thong a large 

 wicker Hshing-basket. 



" Nothing, indee<l, could be simpler or less indicative of nny 

 particular rank or station in society than young St. Aubyn's 

 garb, yet it would have been a very didl and unobservant eve 

 which should take him fur aii_'ht !. s> than a high-born and 

 high-bred gentleman. 



" His fine intellectual face, his bearing en'ct before heaven, 

 the gmccful ease of his every motion, a-* he hurried down tli< 



