ail with any
generous spirit. But even if such were his object, of what use to him
could be the acquisition of a single reluctant partisan, who could bring
only his own person to support any quarrel which he might adopt? He had
claimed over me the rights of a guardian; he had more than hinted that
I was in a state of mind which could not dispense with the authority of
such a person. Was this man, so sternly desperate in his purpose--he
who seemed willing to take on his own shoulders the entire support of
a cause which had been ruinous to thousands--was he the person that had
the power of deciding on my fate? Was it from him those dangers flowed,
to secure me against which I had been educated under such circumstances
of secrecy and precaution?

And if this was so, of what nature was the claim which he asserted?--Was
it that of propinquity? And did I share the blood, perhaps the features,
of this singular being?--Strange as it may seem, a thrill of awe, which
shot across my mind at that instant, was not unmingled with a wild and
mysterious feeling of wonder, almost amounting to pleasure. I remembered
the reflection of my own face in the mirror at one striking moment
during the singular interview of the day, and I hastened to the outward
apartment to consult a glass which hung there, whether it were possible
for my countenance to be again contorted into the peculiar frown which
so much resembled the terrific look of Herries. But I folded my brows
in vain into a thousand complicated wrinkles, and I was obliged to
conclude, either that the supposed mark on my brow was altogether
imaginary, or that it could not be called forth by voluntary effort; or,
in fine, what seemed most likely, that it was such a resemblance as the
imagination traces in the embers of a wood fire, or among the varied
veins of marble, distinct at one time, and obscure or invisible at
another, according as the combination of lines strikes the eye or
impresses the fancy.

While I was moulding my visage like a mad player, the door suddenly
opened, and the girl of the house entered. Angry and ashamed at being
detected in my singular occupation, I turned round sharply, and, I
suppose, chance produced the change on my features which I had been in
vain labouring to call forth.

The girl started back, with her 'Don't ya look so now--don't ye, for
love's sake--you be as like the ould squoire as--But here a comes,' she
said, huddling away out of the room; 'and