ppeared like war personified; the red of one cheek was an
emblem of fire and sword; the blackness of the other betokened the
mourning that attends them. In his train were wild figures in the
Indian dress, and many fantastic shapes without a model, giving the
whole march a visionary air, as if a dream had broken forth from some
feverish brain, and were sweeping visibly through the midnight streets.
A mass of people, inactive, except as applauding spectators, hemmed the
procession in; and several women ran along the sidewalk, piercing the
confusion of heavier sounds with their shrill voices of mirth or terror.

"The double-faced fellow has his eye upon me," muttered Robin, with an
indefinite but an uncomfortable idea that he was himself to bear a part
in the pageantry.

The leader turned himself in the saddle, and fixed his glance full upon
the country youth, as the steed went slowly by. When Robin had freed
his eyes from those fiery ones, the musicians were passing before him,
and the torches were close at hand; but the unsteady brightness of the
latter formed a veil which he could not penetrate. The rattling of
wheels over the stones sometimes found its way to his ear, and confused
traces of a human form appeared at intervals, and then melted into the
vivid light. A moment more, and the leader thundered a command to halt:
the trumpets vomited a horrid breath, and then held their peace; the
shouts and laughter of the people died away, and there remained only a
universal hum, allied to silence. Right before Robin's eyes was an
uncovered cart. There the torches blazed the brightest, there the moon
shone out like day, and there, in tar-and-feathery dignity, sat his
kinsman, Major Molineux!

He was an elderly man, of large and majestic person, and strong, square
features, betokening a steady soul; but steady as it was, his enemies
had found means to shake it. His face was pale as death, and far more
ghastly; the broad forehead was contracted in his agony, so that his
eyebrows formed one grizzled line; his eyes were red and wild, and the
foam hung white upon his quivering lip. His whole frame was agitated by
a quick and continual tremor, which his pride strove to quell, even in
those circumstances of overwhelming humiliation. But perhaps the
bitterest pang of all was when his eyes met those of Robin; for he
evidently knew him on the instant, as the youth stood witnessing the
foul disgrace of a head grown gray in honor. They