eg down, concealing
all his nether garments as far as a pair of hose, darned with yarn
of all conceivable colors, and a pair of shoes, patched and repaired
till nothing of the original structure remained, and clasped on
his feet with two massy silver buckles. If the dress of the old
man was rude and sordid, that of his grand-daughter was gay, and
even rich. She wore a bodice of fine wool, wrought round the bosom
with alternate leaf and lily, and a kirtle of the same fabric,
which, almost touching her white and delicate ankle, showed her
snowy feet, so fairy-light and round that they scarcely seemed
to touch the grass where she stood. Her hair, a natural ornament
which woman seeks much to improve, was of bright glossy brown,
and encumbered rather than adorned with a snood, set thick with
marine productions, among which the small clear pearl found in
the Solway was conspicuous. Nature had not trusted to a handsome
shape, and a sylph-like air, for young Barbara's influence over
the heart of man; but had bestowed a pair of large bright blue
eyes, swimming in liquid light, so full of love and gentleness
and joy, that all the sailors from Annanwater to far Saint Bees
acknowledged their power, and sung songs about the bonnie lass
of Mark Macmoran. She stood holding a small gaff-hook of polished
steel in her hand, and seemed not dissatisfied with the glances
I bestowed on her from time to time, and which I held more than
requited by a single glance of those eyes which retained so many
capricious hearts in subjection.

The tide, though rapidly augmenting, had not yet filled the bay at
our feet. The moon now streamed fairly over the tops of Caerlaverock
pines, and showed the expanse of ocean dimpling and swelling, on
which sloops and shallops came dancing, and displaying at every
turn their extent of white sail against the beam of the moon. I
looked on old Mark the Mariner, who, seated motionless on his gray
stone, kept his eye fixed on the increasing waters with a look of
seriousness and sorrow in which I saw little of the calculating
spirit of a mere fisherman. Though he looked on the coming tide,
his eyes seemed to dwell particularly on the black and decayed
hulls of two vessels, which, half immersed in the quicksand, still
addressed to every heart a tale of shipwreck and desolation. The
tide wheeled and foamed around them; and creeping inch by inch
up the side, at last fairly threw its waters over the top, and a
long and h