66 



EELICS OF POPULAR SUPEBBTITIONS. 



damsel was carried through innumerable galleries and windings 

 till the fresh air was permitted to reach her face. Then, by a 

 dim star-light, she perceived herself on the verge of that tremen- 

 dous precipice shrouded by interwoven elms behind the castle. 

 Remembering that a poor miller was supposed to have perished 

 there, either in desperate love of her or of too much ale, she ap- 

 prehended that these spectres came to execute retributive justice 

 bp hurling her down. Her shrieks and protestations of regret for 

 Robin's fate, were stifled by Lady Pembroke and her companions 

 till they had reached the river's edge, and placed her in a boat. 

 But her cries and struggles could be controlled no longer, and at 

 the instant that Lady Ann's representative tore off his fantastic 

 attire, and seized an oar, a pistol-ball from the shore entered his 

 forehead, and he fell lifeless into the water. Susan was not so 

 completely stupefied by this scene as to be incapable of perceiving 

 that his assistants fled among the trees ; but her dismay was 

 greater when she heard the voice of her master. She made but 

 one leap from the boat to the bank, scrambled up the knot- 

 tiest elm, and remained concealed by the friendly help of her 

 dark green velvet mantle till the terrible voice was heard no 

 more. 



Walter Lambert, haunted by vague and dismal forebodings, 

 had returned from Bossmoor a night sooner than he had promised, 

 to renew his watch under the castle-terrace. He saw the boat, 

 the struggle, and the female figures ; and had three times summon- 

 ed the boatmen, unregarded, before he discharged his pistol. 

 Then all the group seemed to vanish as if by magic : he plunged 

 among the elms, calling on his daughter : and, failing in his ef- 

 forts to obtain a reply, or to discover any one, he returned to the 

 disastrous bank. The boat had disappeared, the body of the fal- 

 len man was no where visible — he searched the shallow water 

 with his stafl", unmindful of his own danger, till another and more 

 urgent curiosity seized on him. He entered by a private postern, 

 and a master-key into his daughter's apartment, and again found 

 both in perfect repose. ISTot a stain of night-dew or of blood was 

 on the night-dress of either; yet the female he had seen wore 

 Edith's garments, and he was very certain that she could not have 

 preceded him into th^ castle. At daybreak he caused the water 

 to be dragged; but the whole transaction was either a dream, or 

 had left no trace behind. 



