rwards through the little garden with a hasty
pace; and at length checking himself, and stopping right opposite to
Alice, he exclaimed: "Woman! on the verge of the grave, dare you urge
the son of your master to blood and to revenge?"

"God forbid!" said Alice, solemnly; "and therefore I would have you
depart these fatal bounds, where your love, as well as your hatred,
threatens sure mischief, or at least disgrace, both to yourself and
others. I would shield, were it in the power of this withered hand, the
Ashtons from you, and you from them, and both from their own passions.
You can have nothing--ought to have nothing, in common with them. Begone
from among them; and if God has destined vengeance on the oppressor's
house, do not you be the instrument."

"I will think on what you have said, Alice," said Ravenswood, more
composedly. "I believe you mean truly and faithfully by me, but you urge
the freedom of an ancient domestic somewhat too far. But farewell; and
if Heaven afford me better means, I will not fail to contribute to your
comfort."

He attempted to put a piece of gold into her hand, which she refused to
receive; and, in the slight struggle attending his wish to force it upon
her, it dropped to the earth.

"Let it remain an instant on the ground," said Alice, as the Master
stooped to raise it; "and believe me, that piece of gold is an emblem of
her whom you love; she is as precious, I grant, but you must stoop even
to abasement before you can win her. For me, I have as little to do with
gold as with earthly passions; and the best news that the world has in
store for me is, that Edgar Ravenswood is an hundred miles distant from
the seat of his ancestors, with the determination never again to behold
it."

"Alice," said the Master, who began to think this earnestness had some
more secret cause than arose from anything that the blind woman could
have gathered from this casual visit, "I have heard you praised by my
mother for your sense, acuteness, and fidelity; you are no fool to start
at shadows, or to dread old superstitious saws, like Caleb Balderstone;
tell me distinctly where my danger lies, if you are aware of any which
is tending towards me. If I know myself, I am free from all such views
respecting Miss Ashton as you impute to me. I have necessary business
to settle with Sir William; that arranged, I shall depart, and with as
little wish, as you may easily believe, to return to a place full of
melancho