32 THE SMUGGLER. 



round like an acanthus leaf, at the other extremity upon the 

 cheek itself, was a long line of very minute blue spots, with 

 another, and another, and another beneath it, till the whole 

 assumed the appearance of a rather broad arabesque painted 

 in blue upon his face. His dress in other respects (if this 

 tattooing might be called a part of his dress) though coarse in 

 texture, was good. The whole, too, was black, except where 

 the white turned-down collar of his shirt appeared between his 

 coat and his pale brownish skin. His shoes were large and 

 heavy, like those used by the countrymen in that part of the 

 county, and in them he wore a pair of silver buckles, not very 

 large, but which in their peculiar form and ornaments, gave 

 signs of considerable antiquity. Though bent, as we have 

 said, thin and pale, he seemed active and energetic. All his 

 motions were quick and eager, and he grasped the hand which 

 Osborn extended to him, with a warmth and enthusiasm very 

 different from the ordinary expression of common friendship. 



" You mistake," said the young gentleman, in answer to 

 his last observation. " It was not old memories and loved 

 associations which brought me here at all, Mr. Warde. It 

 was an order from the commander-in-chief. Had I not re- 

 ceived it, I should not have visited this place for years, if 

 ever!" 



"Yes, yes, you would," replied the old man; "you could 

 not help yourself; it was written in the book of your fate ; it 

 was not to be avoided. You were drawn here by an irre- 

 sistible impulse to undergo what you have to undergo, to per- 

 form that which is assigned you, and to do and suffer all those 

 things which are written on high." 



" I wonder to hear you speaking in terms so like those of a 

 fatalist," answered Osborn; "you whom I have always heard 

 so strenuously assert man's responsibility for all his actions, 

 and scoff at the idea of his excusing himself on the plea of his 

 predestination." 



"True, true," answered the old man, whom he called Warde, 

 " predestination affords no excuse for aught that is wrong; for 

 though it be an inscrutable mystery how those three great facts 

 are to be reconciled, yet certain it is that Omniscience cannot 

 be ignorant of that which will take place, any more than of 

 that which has taken place; that every thing which God fore- 

 knows, must take place, and has been pre-determined by his 



