eading-desk lay a confused mass of letters, petitions, and
parchments; to toil amongst which was the pleasure at once and the
plague of Sir William Ashton's life. His appearance was grave and even
noble, well becoming one who held an high office in the state; and it
was not save after long and intimate conversation with him upon topics
of pressing and personal interest, that a stranger could have discovered
something vacillating and uncertain in his resolutions; an infirmity of
purpose, arising from a cautious and timid disposition, which, as he was
conscious of its internal influence on his mind, he was, from pride as
well as policy, most anxious to conceal from others. He listened with
great apparent composure to an exaggerated account of the tumult which
had taken place at the funeral, of the contempt thrown on his own
authority and that of the church and state; nor did he seem moved even
by the faithful report of the insulting and threatening language which
had been uttered by young Ravenswood and others, and obviously directed
against himself. He heard, also, what the man had been able to collect,
in a very distorted and aggravated shape, of the toasts which had been
drunk, and the menaces uttered, at the subsequent entertainment. In fine,
he made careful notes of all these particulars, and of the names of
the persons by whom, in case of need, an accusation, founded upon these
violent proceedings, could be witnessed and made good, and dismissed his
informer, secure that he was now master of the remaining fortune, and
even of the personal liberty, of young Ravenswood.

When the door had closed upon the officer of the law, the Lord Keeper
remained for a moment in deep meditation; then, starting from his
seat, paced the apartment as one about to take a sudden and energetic
resolution. "Young Ravenswood," he muttered, "is now mine--he is my own;
he has placed himself in my hand, and he shall bend or break. I have not
forgot the determined and dogged obstinacy with which his father fought
every point to the last, resisted every effort at compromise, embroiled
me in lawsuits, and attempted to assail my character when he could
not otherwise impugn my rights. This boy he has left behind him--this
Edgar--this hot-headed, hare-brained fool, has wrecked his vessel before
she has cleared the harbor. I must see that he gains no advantage
of some turning tide which may again float him off. These memoranda,
properly stated to the