re they revelled till a late hour. The jovial temper of Bucklaw
seldom permitted him to be nice in the choice of his associates; and on
the present occasion, when his joyous debauch received additional
zest from the intervention of an unusual space of sobriety, and almost
abstinence, he was as happy in leading the revels as if his comrades had
been sons of princes. Craigengelt had his own purposes in fooling him up
to the top of his bent; and having some low humour, much impudence, and
the power of singing a good song, understanding besides thoroughly the
disposition of his regained associate, he headily succeeded in involving
him bumper-deep in the festivity of the meeting.

A very different scene was in the mean time passing in the Tower of
Wolf's Crag. When the Master of Ravenswood left the courtyard, too
much busied with his own perplexed reflections to pay attention to the
manoeuvre of Caleb, he ushered his guests into the great hall of the
castle.

The indefatigable Balderstone, who, from choice or habit, worked on from
morning to night, had by degrees cleared this desolate apartment of the
confused relics of the funeral banquet, and restored it to some order.
But not all his skill and labour, in disposing to advantage the little
furniture which remained, could remove the dark and disconsolate
appearance of those ancient and disfurnished walls. The narrow windows,
flanked by deep indentures into the walls, seemed formed rather to
exclude than to admit the cheerful light; and the heavy and gloomy
appearance of the thunder-sky added still farther to the obscurity.

As Ravenswood, with the grace of a gallant of that period, but not
without a certain stiffness and embarrassment of manner, handed the
young lady to the upper end of the apartment, her father remained
standing more near to the door, as if about to disengage himself from
his hat and cloak. At this moment the clang of the portal was heard, a
sound at which the stranger started, stepped hastily to the window, and
looked with an air of alarm at Ravenswood, when he saw that the gate of
the court was shut, and his domestics excluded.

"You have nothing to fear, sir," said Ravenswood, gravely; "this roof
retains the means of giving protection, though not welcome. Methinks,"
he added, "it is time that I should know who they are that have thus
highly honoured my ruined dwelling!" The young lady remained silent
and motionless, and the father, to whom the quest