2 nificence, they only await the first rude gale to shake down that superb canopy to the earth, and to wave their giant arms above the withered leaves that now emblaze them with all nature's heraldry. The eye aches with the manifold, but mournful splendour, and gladly rests upon that narrow opening of green turf, a short space up the river bank, and in the centre of the basking wood, on which a slender gray building of considerable height (whether hunting-tower, summerhall, or banquet-lodge, you know not), discloses its quaint form from base to battlement. A glossy network of delicate ivy, irregularly spreads its minute matting over a portion of the large ashler stones that form the bulky buttresses, and the pale hues of the remainder of the building are diversified by large spreading rings of white and yellow lichens, and tufts of velvet moss;-the starry landeress roots itself on every little projection, and the gilliflower waves its gray pods in wilding clusters, evidences of the spicy yellow flowers that breathe and glow there in the spring; while, on its half disembattled brow, a stinting shrub of wide-spreading yew, glooms over the rusty remains of what once was a weathercock. A broken flight of steep stone steps, without any banister, leads to a narrow door midway in the surface of the building, adorned with a broken dripstone, and defaced corbelles, and surmounted by an armorial shield; but there is neither chimney nor window (unless a huge circular orifice high up in its gloomiest side, deserves the name,) to be traced in this antic tower. Two or three antediluvian yew-trees partially overshadow the narrow slope of turf on which it stands, and finely relieve by their sedate grandeur, the variegated paintings of the wood, from which they emerge, and the vermilion clusters of several aged rowans straggling here and there around the green platform. In days of yore, when the Darrell family made Darkelms their favourite residence, this isolated edifice formed a sort of conduit, or reservoir to the hall, and was called The Water Tower, which title it still retains in its dismantled state, and, as well from the picturesque antiquity of its appearance, as from its mysterious and melancholy interior, forms no slight attraction to the rambling antiquary, that prying inquisitor into old mansions and their paraphernalia. Having climbed the steps on the exterior to some height, the gaping doorway displays a corresponding staircase within, whose extent the eye, unaccustomed to the glimmering gloom, is at first unable to ascertain. If the sun chance to be shooting his stinted light through the doorway, you are enabled to descend to the bottom of the steps, and looking upward may almost shudder at the living grave to which you have voluntarily committed 'yourself; to the height of nearly an hundred feet, two thirds of which sink below the surface of the earth, the water-tower soars-a stupendous cylinder, its strange walls ghastfully streaked with wandering light, that makes the gloom, (its prevailing feature,) horrible. The disgusting toad crawls in its bloated heaviness from the sliding foot, and a colony of leatherwinged bats, creaking hither and thither, make you almost wish the company of the old brown owl, that giddy and blinking sailed, or rather reeled out at your approach into the sunshine he abhors. A doorway with grooves as if for sliding panels recommunicates at the bottom of the interior stairs with a gloomy souterrain, whose original extent is however left to the imagination by the huge masses of disjointed masonry with which either time or man's device have obstructed the passage. Tradition says, nevertheless, that formerly this subterraneous gallery extended under the bed of the Derwent to the moat at Darkelms; various accounts were handed down of the uses to which it was applied, but all agreed that by the aid of certain sluices and floodgates, it might be filled with water, and was occasionally used to supply the water-tower, into whose hollow womb its gloomy floods might be conveyed to such a height as almost to cover the topmost step. * * * your express desire do most reluctantly reveal it, confess, in justice, that no foolish caprice, no vain coquetry-" "I do I do confess it! fool that I have been a thousand circumstances recur, that, had I not been wilfully, insanely blind, might have long ago satisfied me that you owed me no more than a ward's respect; felt for me no more than a kind sister's love. But, oh Lily Lily! was there no other than our hereditary foe, could none but that young fiery Romanist, none but Valence Harcourt, be selected to shew me what a self-deluded idiot I have been ?" Neither Valence Harcourt, nor any mortal man that knows Sir Constantine Darrell, can know aught, save what proclaims time, as he is brave and benevo. lent, and wise and good. Nay, cousin! turn not away! if I speak much now upon this unpleasing matter, it is only because I feel I can never again unburthen myself on a subject I know you will never renew. In the late queen's reign, child as I was, I well remember my father enlarging in my presence on the praises of Valence Harcourt, then a youth of seventeen, and chiefly because he had resisted more than one invidious attempt to inveigle him as a partizan to the popish conspiracies which so frequently threatened the throne of Elizabeth. Valence was then an orphan, and residing in the old manor-house which his father's rashness had almost rendered landless, gladly received the advances of Lord Fortescue, (not even inferior to your father Constantine in his loyal adherence to his sovereign,) and, notwithstanding his uncompromising attachment to what my father believed not only a false but a treasonable religion, so won upon his regard that, at length, he almost lived in our family. When I became an orphan, Constantine, my affections were no longer my own; and the seven years that have smiled upon me under my cousin's guardian ship, have only convinced me that if my regard and esteem were shared by you, my heart was undivided and Valence Harcourt's." A pause succeeded this speech, which flowed in trembling but wondrous sweet accents from the red lips of as magnificent a creature as ever breathed in the bloom of twenty summers. Stately in height and developing in her figure, all that symmetry which embellishes a soft and round contour; her blooming cheeks veiled with clusters of dark auburn hair, her bright forehead, beaming candour and goodness, and the love that lived in her large hazel eyes, only hidden by those long fringed lids which modesty makes his sanctuary. Lilias Fortescue's supreme beauty defied even the abomination of the monstrous vardingale of silk and minerva that disguised her graceful form, and the odious association of the yellow starched ruff of cobweb lawn which concealed her ivory neck. Her companion, whom she had repeatedly addressed by the title of Sir Constantine Darrell, might be some fifteen or twenty years her senior; the vigour of matured manhood had not however displaced the bloom of youth; and if, at this moment, his brow was clouded with bitter emotions, neither time nor intemperance had sowed a wrinkle there; and to a frame of masculine beauty was added that winning countenance, with. out which the best comported body is but as a valuable volume wanting its illuminated frontispiece. His dark brown hair, thick and curling, was brushed back from his forehead and temples; a wide cambric band, deeply bordered with rich lace, fell over a long-waisted doublet of velvet that fitted very close to his body; and his buff silk hose, girded with stripes of embroidered velvet, descended wide and large to the middle of his thigh, from whence to the ancles they fitted so tight as to shew every nerve and vein of his athletic limbs. The interval of unutterable emotion which succeeded Mistress Fortescue's last speech, was employed by Sir Constantine in efforts, (not entirely without success,) to subdue his weaker part, and do justice to his real nobility of character. He approached his cousin and took her hand "Forgive me, Lilias!" he said,-I have been unreasonable, nay, unjust; and to have appeared so, in your eyes is no slight punishment for the indulgence of a passion as presumptuous in itself as it is injurious to your happiness. Beautiful Lilias, forgive me!" "Forgive you, Constantine? rather let me ask your forgiveness for rejecting the regard of which I am unworthy." "Forgive me, I repeat, my dear cousin," mildly persisted Sir Constantine, "and thus accept the atonement for my folly !" Oh, speak not thus Constantine," replied the weeping Lilias-"if indeed you wish me to be happy in my choice, do not make me feel how much excellence that choice has made unhappy!" Trembling like a reed in the gentle grasp, that Lilias twined around his powerful arm, Darrell gave one look of ineffable agonizing fondness on the lovely creature, whom that hour had for the first time shewn as lost to him for ever, -and then in broken accents said "You make my hard task harder Lilias -but, help me justice, reason, manhood -and I will now speak the last words you shall ever hear from me on this bitter subject. "Here then I utterly disclaim, and, from my heart and thoughts, banish for ever, all feud, aversion, and distrust-all memory of ancestral hatreds, all feeling of ancestral wrongs-unkindness, coldness, and injurious malice; that, like a host of weeds, have grown and flowered, and shed their seed, between my father's house and Valence Harcourt's. I will, to-morrow, myself take horse for Newbold Harcourt, tender my regrets to Master Valence for our long estrangement,-offer him a gentleman's desire for his friendship, a kinsman's sanction to his-love-and then, (may righteous heaven help me to fulfil my purpose, of mastering myself!) we will meet, converse, visit, as if this folly had never invaded my brain, and Lilias Fortescue's husband, shall be my-brother." "Bless you, God bless you-dear, dear Constantine! for those words," Lilias began, but manhood's self could do and bear no more; and it was only his abrupt and agitated departure from her presence, that prevented Lilias Fortescue from witnessing that most rare and consequently distressing of all displays of grief, a strong man convulsed with sobs and lifting up his voice in tears!— This happened at high noon, in the great oak-wainscoted parlour at Darkelms, what time the Midsummer sun struggled through the proud heraldic coats, that darkened the little diamond panes in the latticed bays; now reposing in chequered lustre upon the large double desk, with its enormous church Bible on one side, and its grim book of martyrs with fearful coloured pictures on the other-now lighting on the furry spoils of foxes, otters, badgers, and wild-cats, that adorned the gloomy polished panels, plentifully interspersed with hunting and hawking poles, and the haughty antlers of many a hart of grease ;-now slumbering upon the broad hearth paved with brick, where reposed a couple of hounds most amicably with a choice black and tan terrier, and a spaniel; and occasionally disguising with its motley blazon, the pallid cheeks and agitated features of the two, whose interesting converse we have just now related, and on whose emotion a long line of august ancestry, glowing on the lofty wainscot, in the gorgeous costumes of Holbeins, Zucchero, and Anthony Vandyke, looked cold and solemn and sad. Lilias Fortescue had scarcely quitted the room, where she remained but a short time after Sir Constantine's hasty departure,--when a small oak door was cautiously opened, communicating with an old chapel now long disused for devotional purposes, but in whose various crypts a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pie, with thick crust, together with sundry bottles of strong beer and wine, were always to be found. The door, then, communicating with this desecrated sanctuary was quietly opened, ushering into the oak-parlour, a tall thin young man, on whose countenance (otherwise far from unhandsome), cunning had written its indelible characters the more frightfully, as they were blended with the ravages of its unwonted companions, dissipation and excess. He had a fine ger falcon on his fist; and the tinkle of her silver Milan bells, as he carefully placed her on her perch, had not ceased, when he began, after a cautious survey of the chamber," Soh! peers the king-fisher's beak into that quarter, my most precious and precise brother?--I' faith thou hast too much of the flesh in thee for a saint,-but art far too saintly to be a man!--and you too, peerless mistress Lilias! -none but Valence Harcourt, forsooth, may serve your turn? and it was for him you spurned my suit?-for the old foe of our family, the family of your proud mother, that you told me, 'words of love from me were worse than ribald insult to your ears?'-'twas for the half starved papist's sake you said, ay swore (for ye called heaven to witness), that a bowl of wolfsbane were more welcome to your lips than the deadly sweetness of mine! Now if I be not revenged on ye both,may I be still the scorn of either! If I do not use to the utmost the weapons fortune hath put into mine hand-may I still, good brother, be the butt of thy supercilious rebukes,-the bedesman of thine eleemosynary contempt;-still, over-weening woman, kneel and grovel at thy feet only to be spurned from them with scorn!" and thus muttering, in such tort, as if he feared the very pictures of his frowning ancestors should hear the speech which his fury rendered it impossible to confine to his own dark bosom, Giles Darrell rushed from the oak parlour, in as great discomposure (but from how different a cause!) as his elder brother. The old bowling-green, at Darkelms, still remains, a fine specimen of that ancient place of amusement; one of the very few, which, having been popular, centuries ago,-continue in vogue with us to the present day. A great square inclosure, surrounded by high stone walls, contained a spacious plat of the most delicate turf, whose surface of lively green had acquired, from the gardener's constant care, all the smoothness and almost firmness of a marble pavement. At regular distances, in the walls, were semicircular alcoves, or rather niches for seats-the entrances to which, were through openings in the enormous yew hedge which, smoothly shorn, lined the whole interior of the wall, and which if not equal to it in solidity, was at least twice its thickness; square, compact, and trim as old Adam's clippers could make it. Two lofty pillars, surmounted with large balls, (with which the wall itself was dotted at intervals) formed the entrance; and right opposite, at the farther extremity, stood a stately summerhall, or banquetting-room (as it was called), consisting of two stories, raised upon a basement of arching pillars, with large windows on every side; its steep roof terminating almost in a point, and surmounted by a prodigious gilded ball and vane. It was now the evening of the day, on which Lilias had made her reluctant confession to Sir Constantine Darrell, and the level light of a glorious summer sunset, had begun to emblaze the great windows of the banquet-room with molten gold,-when the elder Darrell, having mechanically gone through several games of his favourite amusement with his brother, declared himself on a sudden wearied, he knew not why, and tossing the round sand bowls with which they had been playing to a corner of the green, invited his brother to the summerhall, on the pretext of partaking of the wine and cates which were always set out for the refreshment of the bowlers. Giles Darrell assented, and as he was following to the pavilion, smiled. This young man has, we apprehend, already spoken for himself far more than enough to afford an unfavourable impression of his character; but, when it is known that, idle and profligate in his father's lifetime, he had been banished from Darkelms; that it was Constantine's affection which had vainly pleaded for him, until death put a period to the offended parent's implacable ire,-Constantine's first act of power which sought and reclaimed him from his abandoned haunts,-Constantine's generosity that gave him threefold the sum his angry father had bequeathed, and, finally, Constantine's patient benevolence which, after Giles had again and again resumed his guilty habits, still bore with his manners, and still supplied his exigencies, giving him, at length, an equal share in his house and purse, in the desperate and vain hope of at last changing his dissolute propensities. When all this is considered, we shall surely wonder at the heartless wickedness that worthless brother is about to manifest. Alas! it is but too indisputable a truth, that to load the wicked with kindness is not only to heap coals of fire upon their heads, but to kindle a devouring flame in their hearts, and put a two-edged sword in their hands! On entering the lower room of the summer-hall, a handsome apartment hung with green taffeta, on which the story of Semiramis was embroidered in gold and silver tissue, Sir Constantine partially drew the curtain of silk, so as to screen off a portion of the intolerable brilliance that blazed through the tall windows; and, having poured out wine to his brother, and pledged him, drew his chair closer to him, and in a firm voice and deliberate manner, narrated, from point to point, the eventful conversation he had, that morning, held with Lilias Fortescue. "Thus you see, dear Giles, we are brothers in disappointment. The vain hope which sprung up in my heart when you were rejected by Lilias, that it was for my sake she refused your suit, even you may forgive, now that it hath been so bitterly blighted." "Nay, brother, talk not of forgiveness to one who, regarding you as his patron, can but behold all your conduct in one light; my gratitude is already too big for my poor heart, and, while I live, body and spirit must be tied to you for ever by the strong fetters of obligation." "Trust me, good brother! I would not have it so; be but so far bound to me as true love inclines you; and in aught else be free as the air to pursue your own interests; but now listen to-morrow I set forth to Newbold Harcourt. I go without attendants, not only be cause I brook not witnesses, lest my own heart may not keep its true tone, but also for that I would not seem to him ostentatious in this dreadful sacrifice." "You purpose then to apprise this Valence Harcourt of our fair cousin's preference ?" "And to add to it, (false as I shall be to my feelings), my approbation." "Constantine! there has been blood between our ancestors and his." "It has lost its red dye from time, Giles." "Our father hated him deadly." "Our mother's brother loved him fondly, and I myself am weary of hating; any occasion of peace but this, I would have embraced with joy; and even this, such as it is, I will not decline!" "Have with you then; I too will go to Newbold Harcourt! do you start, Sir Constantine? would you have him think that, worthless as Giles Darrell is in the world's eye, he cannot imitate, at least, his nobler brother's generosity? I will go with you to Newbold to-morrow!" Sir Constantine arose, warmly clasped his brother's hand, and his fine countenance beaming with satisfaction, exclaimed "Will you indeed, dear Giles? this is beyond my hopes; but dare you trust yourself? have you thought what it will cost of manhood to seek in Valence Harcourt, not only our old family foe, but the man who has turned aside the current of your affections? have you weighed the anguish, not only of losing your love, but of formally yielding her to another!" "I have not weighed all this, good brother! nor need I; your presence shall be my strength and shield." "In faith, Giles, I must doubt my power to hold my own! but the effort at least is glorious, and shall be made. Come then, Giles,-come with me to Lilias, and shew her too that you can rival me in devotion to her happiness!" 66 Nay, Constantine! hold me excused there; my new resolve sits on me, at present, uneasy as unproved armour! Go you, to lovely Mistress Lilias, and paint me better than she thinks, or haply than I deserve. I will to the wood! a twilight meditation may help me much." And so the brothers parted for that night. The moon was sailing high in the blue heavens, flickering, as she had often done before, the reverend woods of Darkelms with delicious lustre and gloom, but, surely, never before had her blest light looked down on such wicked violators of her peaceful reign as now stood in whispered converse under the vast shadow of the old water-tower. The group consisted of three or four ringleaders in the ruffian band, with which Giles Darrell's broken fortunes, and, still worse, his dissipated propensities had long identified him; that worthy himself was haranguing them in suppressed tones, but with vehement gesticulations. "The time is now come," he said, "when I may shake off the insupportable load of degradation under which I have so long groaned, and you, my brave and faithful associates, may share with me the long hoarded spoil of this lofty, grand, sententious brother of mine.I hate him! need I tell you how I hate him, you who know how he helped to foil my suit with yonder haughty maiden, and have now to learn that, being himself supplanted in his turn, he meditates a masterstroke of saintly policy, no less, good wot! than to be in his own person his fair cousin's ambassador to that papist paramour of hers, Valence Harcourt; that thus, plucking jewels from the hole into which he has fallen, he may return to the admiring world all the disgrace of the rejected suitor lost in the grandeur of the selfdenying saint.-Marry! such heroism suits not me; then be you but prompt to aid me, and Sir Constantine Darrell shall scarcely interweave laurels with his willow wreath !" Giles Darrell then proceeded to unfold at full his nefarious plot. Sir Constantine, while riding in his company, was to be attacked by a large band of the ruffians, at an hour and spot by him pointed out, between Darkelms and Newbold Harcourt. ¡ Giles was to make a feint of defending his brother, and, to give the pretence, (as he scoffingly said), some colour, was to be slightly wounded by the assailants. "I will contrive," he continued, "to drop from my horse, as if desperately wounded, and then, but not till then, surround and drag Sir Constantine from his!" Ay!-ay! was the grinning reply; " and then a home-thrust or two; and long live Sir Giles Darrell ! " "Not for your lives! you would frustrate the best half of my purpose; Constantine must be secured, but not hurt more than is necessary. This old tower, thanks to our nightly mummeries, is universally considered as a place ac |