used at home to such spectacles. The border strongholds, to which he had been most accustomed, were in general nothing more than a single square tower, with walls of enormous thickness, and defended by a ditch. They had been the scene of deeds, rarely paralleled, perhaps, in the annals of human daring, yet executed only by a handful of men, and in some private feud, or for the sake of some pitiful plunder. La Verrière, on the contrary, although the old black building was only the habitation of an individual noble, looked like a spot where the cause of a nation might be upheld, and the quarrels of kings decided.

David's eye, after following the fortified lines, was attracted towards those singular natural defences of the place, the floating swamps of the Erdre. They extended so far round the river-ward side, that at first sight the castle might have been supposed to stand at some distance from the water; but on closer examination, the pools which gleamed here and there, amidst the intense green of the vegetation that covered them, raised a suspicion on the part of the spectator that it was not terra firma he beheld. If even a bird of tolerable size happened to alight on the questionable spot, a tremulous motion was perceived to run through nearly the whole mass; but if a heavier animal (as in the case of oxen already mentioned) ventured into these treacherous meadows-as tempting as the gardens of the daughters of Hesperus his fate wás certain. He might, indeed, go on for a short space, rioting on the beautiful verdure as he passed; but speedily he was intercepted by a channel so narrow, as to be invisible till close at hand. Retreat then became almost impracticable; and to proceed, entirely so. Even if by a furious effort he succeeded in escaping from the brink of the channel, before the ground sunk, he found it impossible, in the surprise and terror of the moment, increased by the shaking and shifting of the floating mass, and the bubbling, hissing, and spouting of the black water, to find the way back. A new channel gave the desperate creature pause; a new retreat was attempted; and, after convulsing the whole swamp by his maddening efforts, he plunged into the abyss, and disappeared from the surface of the earth for ever.

David fancied, at the moment, that he beheld the commencement of some such scene, although in the person of a much smaller animal than an ox. Some dark object appeared at the edge of the swamp, at a little distance beyond the outermost ditch. It glided out so far, that he

fancied it to be some aquatic animal, which intended to swim the river; but suddenly changing its course, it approached the castle with all the velocity, as well as with all the turnings and windings of a hunted fox. David's interest and curiosity had been raised to a very high pitch; when the moon, suddenly entering a cloud, his eye was hardly able to follow the little, and either reckless or stupid creature, careering over the swamp, like a small patch of shadow.

When the moon emerged again from her prison-house, the object of his attention was at an inconsiderable distance from the ramparts; and the sensation he experienced may be conceived, when he saw that it was no other than his intended comrade, the dwarf!

"Holy Mary!" cried the student, "It is he himself! there he is indeed, taking his nightly pastimes! Rather would I drop from this tower, and plunge head foremost into the ramparts than thread with him that trembling bog. Toads and serpents! Were there no other game in the world, I would forswear hook and spear. Your waterdeath I abhor-especially in element as black and thick as that. Nay, I could not let forth my spirit in the water; but should continue gasping and choking till the day of judgment!" By this time the unworld-like creature, whose motions he had followed in surprise and consternation, had climbed up the ramparts, he knew not by what means, and disappeared from his view.

The student crept back into his hole, as little satisfied as ever with his situation; and, shutting the window, he lay down upon his bed, but without undressing. Notwithstanding all his troubles, however, youth, exercise, and a good constitution triumphed, and he speedily fell asleep. But his mind was still vexed. Dreams took the place of waking thoughts; and before midnight he awoke, and sat up suddenly in his bed.

"I will not die in bogwater," said he, "on that I am resolved! They may shoot me with their culverines and serpentines, if they will, for I cannot prevent it; but, if it comes to fair stabbing, by St. Bride it is a game that may be played at by more than one!" And so saying, the scholar felt that the loop by which he had fastened his dagger to his right hand was secure, and laying his head again upon the pillow, fell fast asleep.

CHAPTER XIX.

SIR ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, when his friend left the village to go on to La Verrière, stood looking after him for some time. When David's athletic, yet graceful form had at length disappeared among the trees, he turned away with a sigh, burdened with many evil forebodings, and followed the bride and some of her party back into the house.

It was not yet time to proceed to the church, and many other rustic ceremonies were still to be gone through; but Marie had been so much disconcerted by her cousin's illomened song, that she demanded a little while to recollect herself. When her companions sat down in the humble parlour, she wandered out into the garden behind the house; and such was her character for firmness and superiority of mind, that even the busiest of the gossips thought it best to leave her alone, for the brief space which could be afforded, to her own reflections.

The moment at length arrived when the bride could no longer be wanted, and she was called from the lattice. There was no answer. The bride-maidens then went out to seek her. They traversed the garden; they entered a small shrubbery beyond; they made the whole country-side ring with her name. Victoire then began the search, followed by the other men of the party. All was in vain. The village bride had vanished as suddenly and completely as Genevra herself.

This extraordinary occurrence, it may be supposed, was not less perplexing to Sir Archibald than to any of the rest; but it was attended by some vexatious circumstances which applied to him alone.

It was recollected that David, Marie, and himself had been engaged in divers private confabulations; and that the bride had whispered his friend just before she had sat down to be sung at by her cousin. The moment the song was ended, the scholar had taken himself off without a word of good-bye to anybody; and immediately after, as if following on his heels, the ill-advised girl had made her escape through the garden. This damning proof was rendered still fuller by the fact, that the strangers, even on their first arrival at the village, were evidently no strangers to Marie. The young knight could not conceive what was the meaning of the altered looks with which he was regarded, and the committee work that was going on. He more than

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half suspected, it is true, that the interest so evidently taken by Marie in his friend arose from a blind and misplaced passion; and that the poor girl, startled by the bridal song, and terrified at the thought of marrying a man whom she did not love, had fled, even at the twelfth hour, to follow the footsteps of the third victim. But what had he to do with this? He had not shared in the transaction, even with the unconsciousness of David; but was, to all intents and purposes, as mere a looker-on as any one there.

and

The black looks of his hosts, however, although certainly disagreeable, were not a matter of much moment. He had arranged to remain at the village for a few days, in expectation of tidings from La Verrière; and had even paid Jehan in advance (supposing the money at a moment of festivity like the present would be more welcome than at another time) the sum which he meant to exchange for his hospitality. He was, therefore, under no obligation; in those days, the prestige which surrounded a knight rendered him well able to return only smiles of contempt for the hostile glances of a hundred peasants. Douglas, therefore, resolved to take no account of the sullenness of the villagers, but to remain among them till the expiration of the appointed days, and to keep the adventurer's horse with him, lest David should come suddenly, with the cry upon lips--which was by no means unlikely" Sauve qui peut!" No incident worth relating occurred during this period, till one night, after having retired to rest, Sir Archibald heard a tap upon his window; and on springing up, instead of his friend, whom he expected to see, he beheld the rather pretty face of Lisette. The knight was not a little scandalised at this adventure; for in his romantic ideas, which, by the way, were not less uncommon in that age than in ours, infidelity in love took rank with heresy in religion.

his

"What is the matter, girl?" said he, opening a chink of the lattice, and speaking in a tone of austerity which would have become an anchorite.

"O don't you be alarmed, Sir Knight," replied Lisette, tossing her head, "I have no evil designs upon you. My brother Jehan, however, has just returned from La Verrière, whither he went in the morning to search for Marie; and, being somewhat in his cups, I can gather as much from him as would seem to make it well worth your while to ride at the earliest peep of day to some safer shelter than our village."

"Tell me first, what are the tidings of Marie? Has the lost bride been found?"

"Meddle, Messire, with what concerns you. I trow you will have enough ado to save your helmet-strings from the misericorde that is even now sharpening for them. I give you this warning, partly because I suspect it is Jehan himself who has been the means of getting you into the business; and partly, because I know that Marie, God help her! has but too little to do with that kindly, good-humoured, well-favoured friend of yours, who had the civility to offer her a kiss, if she had had the sense to accept of it."

"I thank you sincerely," said the knight, "for your information, to whatever motive I may be indebted for it. Will you add to the favour, by letting me know at whose hands I may look for the compliment you hint at?"

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At the hands of half-a-dozen men, armed to the teeth, and better mounted than you. Ride if you be wise, ride early, and ride hard!" and with this injunction, delivered in a tone of too serious warning to be neglected, Lisette disappeared as suddenly as she had come.

The knight was sufficiently well acquainted with war to know that retreat may, on some occasions, be as becoming in a brave soldier, as advance. Under present circumstances, to think of opposing, single-handed, the power of the Black Knight, on ground where he, no doubt, was allpowerful, would be to abandon the cause he had undertaken, and surrender Pauline de Laval into the hands of her enemy. It had been his intention, as soon as he had given up all hopes of hearing from David, to ride openly to La Verrière, and state to its lord the conduct, from first to last, so far as he was acquainted with it, of the mysterious person in question, as well as the fact of his being alive, if that was indeed unknown to the baron. Gilles de Retz, he knew, was by no means a man to refuse him permission to offer the mortal defiance, which would follow as a matter of course; and thus the arrangement of the affair would be left to his own prowess in the field, of which the result would doubtless be the destruction of Prelati, and the deliverance of David from the fate which, by that time, it would be plain enough, was intended for him.

It was in meditating upon this plan, gazing from the neighbouring heights upon the towers which contained the lady of his love, and weaving together those gossamer visions which float in the fancy of the young and the brave, that he had hitherto been able to preserve in some degree the tranquillity of his spirit. Nor, we confess, was he less pleased with the idea for Douglas, although a preux chevalier, was yet a man- that the result of his enterprise