d stiffened to stone by this unexpected
apparition. Apparition it might well be termed, for Ravenswood had
more the appearance of one returned from the dead than of a living
visitor.

He planted himself full in the middle of the apartment, opposite to
the table at which Lucy was seated, on whom, as if she had been alone
in the chamber, he bent his eyes with a mingled expression of deep
grief and deliberate indignation. His dark-colored riding cloak,
displaced from one shoulder, hung around one side of his person in the
ample folds of the Spanish mantle. The rest of his rich dress was
travel-soiled, and deranged by hard riding. He had a sword by his
side, and pistols in his belt. His slouched hat, which he had not yet
removed at entrance, gave an additional gloom to his dark features,
which, wasted by sorrow and marked by the ghastly look communicated by
long illness, added to a countenance naturally somewhat stern and
wild, a fierce and even savage expression. The matted and disheveled
locks of hair which escaped from under his hat, together with his fixt
and unmoved posture, made his head more resemble that of a marble bust
than that of a living man. He said not a single word, and there was a
deep silence in the company for more than two minutes.

It was broken by Lady Ashton, who in that space partly recovered her
natural audacity. She demanded to know the cause of his unauthorized
intrusion.

"That is a question, madam," said her son, "which I have the best
right to ask; and I must request of the Master of Ravenswood to follow
me where he can answer it at leisure."

Bucklaw interposed, saying, "No man on earth should usurp his
previous right in demanding an explanation from the Master.
Craigengelt," he added, in an undertone, "d--n ye, why do you stand
staring as if you saw a ghost? fetch me my sword from the gallery."

"I will relinquish to none," said Colonel Ashton, "my right of calling
to account the man who has offered this unparalleled affront to my
family."

"Be patient, gentlemen," said Ravenswood, turning sternly toward them,
and waving his hand as if to impose silence on their altercation. "If
you are as weary of your lives as I am, I will find time and place to
pledge mine against one or both; at present, I have no leisure for the
dispute of triflers."

"Triflers!" cried Colonel Ashton, half unsheathing his sword, while
Bucklaw laid his hand on the hilt of that which Craigengelt had just
reached