--even solemn, as
upon that glorious night. The moon was out, silvering wood and water,
and shining on the white walls of the tranquil mansion. Nature was calm,
serene, peaceful as ever. Beneath the trees, he saw the bounding
deer--upon the water, the misty wreaths of vapor--all, all was dreamy,
delightful, soothing, all save his heart--_there_ was the
conflict--_there_ the change. Was it a troubled dream, with the dark
oppression of which he was struggling, or was it stern, waking, actual
life? That moment's review of his wild career was terrible. He saw to
what extremes his ungovernable passions had hurried him; he saw their
inevitable consequences; he saw also his own fate; but he rushed madly
on.

He swept round the park, keeping under the covert of the wood, till he
arrived at the avenue leading to the mansion. The stems of the aged
limes gleamed silvery white in the moonshine. Luke drew in the rein
beneath one of the largest of the trees.

"A branch has fallen," said he, as his grandsire joined him.

"Ha!" exclaimed Alan, "a branch from that tree?"

"It bodes ill to Ranulph," whispered Luke, "does it not?"

"Perchance," muttered Alan. "'Tis a vast bough!"

"We meet within an hour," said Luke, abruptly.

"Within the tomb of our ancestry," replied Alan; "I will await you
there."

And as he rode away, Alan murmured to himself the following verse from
one of his own ballads:

But whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,
By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed--
A verdant bough, untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath--
To Rookwood's head an omen dread of fast approaching death.

_CHAPTER III_

_HANDASSAH_

I have heard it rumored for these many years,
None of our family dies but there is seen
The shape of an old woman, which is given
By tradition to us to have been murthered
By her nephews for her riches. Such a figure
One night, as the prince sat up late at 's book,
Appeared to him; when, crying out for help,
The gentleman of his chamber found his Grace
All in a cold sweat, altered much in face
And language, since which apparition
He hath grown worse and worse, and much I fear
He cannot live.

_Duchess of Malfy._

In one of those large antique rooms, belonging to the suite of
apartments constituting the eastern wing of Rookwood Pl