o wear the gorgeous pall of splendid fortune. Yet,
dearest Allan, I am aware, that our present state cannot be permanent.
Two alternatives await us, either a restoration to your rank in society,
or removal to a plate of greater security. The King will soon visit
Scotland, to receive his hereditary crown. He will pass through
Ribblesdale, and my brothers duty will call him to attend him; is there
a hope that he can plead your cause successfully, after the eloquence of
your friend, and the address of your sister have failed?"

Evellin answered, there was no probability.

"Consider then," returned Isabel, "this place lies in a frequented road.
Some busy courtier will be eager to beat the covert and start the noble
quarry, which the King desires to hunt down. If indeed His Highness's
mind is so obscured by anger, as to combine a rash expression and a
deliberate plan of murder in the same degree of guilt; to condemn you
unheard for one crime, and by implication make you accessary to another,
can there be safety or honour in being his servant? Surely, my Allan's
loyalty once arrayed his Prince with visionary excellence; or Walter
acted like one of those unskilful surgeons, who convert a slight wound
into a deep gangrene."

The tone of displeasure, in which Evellin checked every suggestion
against the integrity or discretion of his friend, had no other effect
on Isabel's mind, than to convince her of her husband's unbounded
confidence. Walter's own letters furnished her with many reasons for
suspicion; there was in them a studied air of plausibility, a nice
arrangement of minutiae, and a wary shifting from important points, which
seemed to her strong but artless mind, more like the drapery of design,
than the frank simplicity of truth. They were seldom replies to
Evellin's statements or requests. The kindness they contained had the
flourish of sentiment; there was much ostentatious display of trivial
offices of goodwill, and of those every-day assistances, which affection
wants memory to record. If Evellin seemed determined to risk all, by a
bold appeal to the laws, better prospects were held out, which
precipitation would blast; and larger remittances were forwarded. If he
affected to be reconciled to obscurity, Walter, by gently censuring,
actually confirmed the wise moderation of his choice, describing
himself as tired of the court, and reluctantly chained to it by the
rooted attachment of Lady Eleanor, who sparkled in th