the requisite ceremonies; and Marion
Webster became, within a short space, the lady of Ballochgray.

Next day the Baron took her forth to the green woods, where, as they
sauntered among elms many centuries old, and as high as castles, he told
her that he had more reasons than other men for having a wife _who could
keep a secret_. When he first met her, he was struck with her beauty, but
had no more intention than ordinary love adventurers for making her his
wife; frequent intercourse had revealed to him a jewel he had never seen in
such brightness in the _head gear_ of the nobles of the land--a stern and
unflinching regard to the sanction of her word. He quickly resolved to test
this in such a manner as would leave no doubt in his mind that a
secret-keeping wife he might find in his humble maiden of Ballochgray
woods. He had three times visited Christ's Kirk in such a manner as would
raise an intense curiosity in the inhabitants as to who he was. Marion had
the secret only of his being plain Geordie Dempster; but so firmly and
determinedly had she kept it, that, in the very midst of a general belief
that he was the Prince of Darkness, she had never even let it be known that
she had once seen his face before. So far Marion was enlightened; and it is
not improbable that, afterwards, she knew _why_ a secret-keeping wife was
so much prized by the Baron of Ballochgray, and why he could serve two
purposes--that of love, and fame of supernatural powers--in personating, as
he had done, the Prince of Darkness in his visits to Christ's Kirk on the
Green. So far, at least, it is certain that Marion never revealed the
secret of his pretended astrological acquirements.

For weeks after the marriage, inquiries were made in every quarter for the
lost damsel; but, at last, all search and inquiry was given up, and the
belief that she was in the place appointed for the wicked had settled down
on the minds of the people. One evening a number of cronies were assembled
at the house of the disconsolate parents, and among these were Meg
Johnston, Christy Lowrie, Widow Lindsay, and others of the Leslians.

"The will o' the Lord maun be done," said Meg; "but wae's me! there was
mony an auld gimmer in Leslie, whose horns are weel marked wi' the lines o'
her evil days, that Clootie might hae taen, afore he cam to the bonnie ewe
that had only tasted the first leaves o' her simmer girse. What did Marion
Webster ever do in this warld to bring upon