bt that the pure and gentle
spirit of the woman will come forth unscathed, where many a stronger has
been scorched and withered; for you will soon learn that the dangerous
paths of this world are over hidden fires and by treacherous pitfalls."

With these strange words he left her before she had time to answer him;
it seemed to her that what he had said was not intended as a mere
general remark, but that it applied directly to herself, from some
secret knowledge he possessed of her future prospects. She remained
looking after him in astonishment, not unmixed with interest in one who
seemed so strangely to have assumed the position of friend and
counsellor towards her; the echo of his voice still ringing in her ears,
so full of mournful sweetness, and the haunting melancholy of the eyes
which had read her inmost soul, oppressed her with a feeling of sadness
very new to her light heart. She saw him mount a horse which his servant
held in readiness for him, and, in another instant, he had disappeared
in the woods. With him, however, passed the cloud he had raised; a
thousand new objects of interest were before her, and her eyes seemed to
catch the very sunbeams as they passed, while her light feet bounded
eagerly to the spot where Sir Michael's servants awaited her.

II. THE OLD MAN'S REVENGE ON THE DEAD.

In a small room, darkened by the deepening shadows of the twilight, sat
a withered old man--looking infinitely more like a necromancer of some
centuries back than an English baronet of the present day. The species
of cell in which he sat was placed in the loftiest turret of Randolph
Abbey, as far separated as possible from the apartments inhabited by the
family. It was entirely filled with a variety of scientific instruments,
which seemed to be in constant requisition; the quaint, old latticed
window was thrown wide open, and a telescope fixed at it, in the proper
position for a contemplation of the heavenly bodies by night. At the
other end of the room was fixed an apparatus for chemical experiments,
and here Sir Michael was seated, poring over some liquid which he was
subjecting to the influence of a spirit-lamp. He wore a black velvet
cap, which contrasted forcibly with the fixed livid color of his face,
and his person was enveloped in an ample dressing-gown of the same
material, in which the shrivelled, meagre form seemed almost lost. It
seemed incredible that a living frame should be so wasted and shrunken
as hi