wer sat in it, who managed his
oars with the skill which long practice gives. He looked up, and seeing
Miss Wardhill, flourished his oar as a salute, which she returned with
the slightest possible inclination of her head, and then continued
pacing up and down, while he pursued his course till he entered the voe,
and reached the castle landing-place, where he was hid from view. Miss
Wardhill continued her circumscribed walk backwards and forwards across
the top of the tower, now stopping to look up the Sound at the ship, now
casting her glance round the horizon, speaking frequently to herself,
and more than once sighing deeply, as if there was some weight at her
heart of which she longed to be relieved.

She had again stopped, and was looking at the beautiful ship in the
distance, when she started on hearing herself addressed--

"Good morrow, cousin Hilda," said the intruder, who had that instant
come up from the room below. "Engaged, as I expected, or you would not
be a woman, gazing with curiosity at the strange ship in the Sound,
wondering whence she came, and all about her."

She turned as he spoke, when he lifted a little gold-laced,
three-cornered hat from his head, and saluted her with a profound bow,
which might have appeared respectful in the extreme, had he not at the
same time indulged in a low chuckling laugh, the usual conclusion, it
seemed, of most of his sentences. His manner and appearance were
peculiar in the extreme: he was broad and large boned, but thin; and a
suit of brown cloth, with huge silver buttons, hung loosely about his
body; a wide shirt-frill stuck out in front, and his shirt collars
reached up to his ears. His gait was shuffling and shambling; he wore
knee-breeches and grey homespun stockings, and his shoes, which were
ornamented with silver buckles, were far too large for him, and of
course, even had he not had the propensity to do so, would have made him
shuffle his feet over the ground, his eyes were unusually large, grey,
and staring; and his hair, which was already so grey that its original
colour could scarcely be perceived, was cut short, and stood up on end,
all over his head like the quills of the porcupine; his forehead was
somewhat narrow, but his features were neither plain nor coarse; there
was, however, a startled, frightened look about them, and an otherwise
painful and indescribable expression, which told too plainly that the
ruling power of the intellect had been ov