's consent,
(whose pardon I have sought on my knees, and whose blessing I have already
obtained,) [hereupon her father nodded assent] provided he would desert,
and retire with me, at least for a time, beyond the reach of ye all--ye
messengers of evil, sent to scourge a guilty and backsliding race; 'twas I
that visited him night after night in that old tower, which you inhumanly
set on fire, and in which--O my God!"----Hereupon she laid hold of the desk
before her, and would have dropped to the earth, had not an officer in
attendance supported her, and borne her, under the authority of the court,
into the open air. She was now, notwithstanding her self-accusation,
declared to be at liberty: and immediately, so soon as strength was given
her, retired into the house of an acquaintance and relative, where suitable
restoratives and refreshments were administered. The house where her friend
lived was close upon what is called the Sands of Dumfries, adjoining to the
river, which up to this point is navigable, and where boats are generally
to be seen. During the night, she disappeared, and, though all search was
made at home and everywhere else, she was not heard of. Her father at first
took her disappearance sadly to heart; but time seemed to have a remedial
effect upon his spirits, and he at length rallied, even into cheerfulness.
Things went on for years and years, very much in the old way at Barjarg.
The old man's hairs gradually whitened and became more scanty, whilst this
loss was made up for by an increase of wrinkles. The only change in his
habits were not unfrequent visits which he payed to an old friend, he said,
in Whitehaven, and from which he always returned in high spirits. It might
have been stated formerly that, when the ashes of the old tower were
searched, after they had cooled, for the body of poor Wilson, no such body
was found--but the inference was made by the neighbours, that the remains
had been early removed by his wife's orders, who would naturally wish to
possess herself of so valued a deposit. In fact, the whole transaction
melted away in the stream of time, like the snow-flake on the surface of
the water; and things went on very much us usual. Six long years revolved,
and still no word of Catherine Wilson. Many conjectured that she had missed
her foot in the dark, and fallen into the river, and been carried out to
sea by the reflux of the tide. Others again hinted at suicide, from extreme
grief; and so