escended on all the posterity of this unhappy house?'

'It has been so handed down from antiquity, and is still believed,' said
Herries. 'But perhaps there is, in the popular evidence, something of
that fancy which creates what it sees. Certainly, as other families have
peculiarities by which they are distinguished, this of Redgauntlet is
marked in most individuals by a singular indenture of the forehead,
supposed to be derived from the son of Alberick, their ancestor, and
brother to the unfortunate Edward, who had perished in so piteous a
manner. It is certain there seems to have been a fate upon the House of
Redgauntlet, which has been on the losing side in almost all the civil
broils which have divided the kingdom of Scotland from David Bruce's
days, till the late valiant and unsuccessful attempt of the Chevalier
Charles Edward.'

He concluded with a deep sigh, as one whom the subject had involved in a
train of painful reflections.

'And am I then,' I exclaimed, 'descended from this unhappy race? Do you
belong to it? And if so, why do I sustain restraint and hard usage at
the hands of a relation?'

'Inquire no further for the present,' he said. 'The line of conduct
which I am pursuing towards you is dictated, not by choice but by
necessity. You were withdrawn from the bosom of your family and the
care of your legal guardian, by the timidity and ignorance of a doting
mother, who was incapable of estimating the arguments or feelings of
those who prefer honour and principle to fortune, and even to life. The
young hawk, accustomed only to the fostering care of its dam, must be
tamed by darkness and sleeplessness, ere it is trusted on the wing for
the purposes of the falconer.'

I was appalled at this declaration, which seemed to threaten a long
continuance, and a dangerous termination, of my captivity. I deemed it
best, however, to show some spirit, and at the same time to mingle a
tone of conciliation. 'Mr. Herries,' I said '(if I call you rightly by
that name), let us speak upon this matter without the tone of mystery
and fear in which you seem inclined to envelop it. I have been long,
alas! deprived of the care of that affectionate mother to whom you
allude--long under the charge of strangers--and compelled to form my
own resolutions upon the reasoning of my own mind. Misfortune--early
deprivation--has given me the privilege of acting for myself; and
constraint shall not deprive me of an Englishman's best privile