their own generous hearts have interested in my behalf, such a consummation of my hard adventures is now not unlikely.—But as a soldier, I must look with some interest upon that wormeaten hold of ragged stone! and if this fellow, who is now in possession, displaces a pebble of it>>

He was here interrupted by Dinmont, who came hastily after them up the road unseen till he was near the party :-« Captain, Captain! ye're wanted-Ye're wanted by her ye ken o'."

« I sought ye at

And immediately Meg Merrilies, as if emerging out of the earth, ascended from the hollowway, and stood before them. the house," she said, « and found but him, (pointing to Dinmont;) but ye are right, and I am wrang. It is here we should meet, on this very spot, Remember your promise, and follow

me."

CHAPTER XIV.

To hail the king in seemly sort
The ladie was full fain;

But King Arthur, all sore amazed,

No answer made again.

What wight art thou,» the ladie said,

That will not speak to me?

Sir, I may chance to ease thy pain,.
Though I be foul to see.»

The Marriage of Sir Gawaine.

THE fairy bride of Sir Gawaine, while under the influence of the spell of her wicked step-mother, was more decrepid probably, and what is commonly called more ugly, than Meg Merrilies; but I doubt if she possessed that wild sublimity which an excited imagination communicated to features, marked and expressive in their own peculiar character, and to the gestures of a form, which, her sex considered, might be termed gigantic. Accordingly, the knights of the Round Table did not recoil with more terror from the apparition of the loathly lady placed between << an oak and a green holly,» than Lucy Bertram and Julia Mannering did from the appearance

of this Galwegian sybil upon the common of Ellangowan.

« For God's sake,» said Julia, pulling out her purse, «give that dreadful woman something, and bid her go away."

« I cannot," said Bertram, « I must not offend her.">

« What keeps you here?" said Meg, exalting the harsh and rough tones of her hollow voice, Why do you not follow?-Must your hour call you twice? Do you remember your oath?—were it at kirk or market, wedding or burial,»—and she held high her skinny forefinger in a menacing attitude.

Bertram turned to his terrified companions. «< Excuse me for a moment, I am engaged by a promise to follow this woman.»

« Good heavens! engaged to a mad woman!» said Julia.

«Or to a gypsey, who has her band in the wood ready to murder you," said Lucy.

« That was not spoke like a bairn of Ellangowan," said Meg, frowning upon Miss Bertram. « It is the ill-doers are ill-dreaders. »

"

<< In short, I must go," said Bertram, «< it is absolutely necessary — wait for me five minutes on this spot.>>

<< Five minutes?" said the gypsey, « five hours may not bring you here again.>>

« Do you hear that?" said Julia, « for heaven's sake do not go!»

« I must, I must-Mr Dinmont will protect you back to the house."

« No," said Meg, « he must gang with you, it is for that he is here. He maun take part wi' hand and heart, and weel his part it is, for redding him might have cost you dearer.»

<< Troth, Luckie, it's very true; and ere I turn back frae the Captain's side, I'll show that I hae na forgotten it.»

« O, yes," exclaimed both the ladies at once, << let him go with you, if go you must, on this

strange summons.»

<< Indeed I must, but you see I am safely guarded-Adieu for a short time, go home as fast as you can."

He pressed his sister's hand, and took a yet more affectionate farewell of Julia with his eyes, Almost stupified with surprise and fear, the young ladies watched with their eyes the course of Bertram, his companion, and their extraordinary guide. Her tall figure moved across the wintry heath with steps so swift, so long, and so steady, that she appeared rather to glide than to walk. Bertram and Dinmont, both tall men, apparently scarce equalled her in height, owing to her longer dress and high head-gear. She proceeded straight across the common, without turning aside to the winding path, by which passengers avoided the inequalities and little rills which traversed it in different directions. Thus the diminishing figures often disappeared from the

eye, as they dived into such broken ground, and again ascended to sight when they were past the hollow. There was something frightful and unearthly, as it were, in the rapid and undeviating course which she pursued, undeterred by any of the impediments which usually incline a traveller from the direct path. Her way was as straight, and nearly as swift, as that of a bird through the air. At length they reached those thickets of natural wood which extended from the skirts of the common towards the glades and brook of Derncleugh, and were there lost to the view.

<< This is very extraordinary," said Lucy after a pause, and turning round to her companion, << What can he have to do with that old hag?»

<< It is very frightful,» answered Julia, « and almost reminds me of the tales of sorceresses, witches, and evil genii, which I heard in India. They believe there in a fascination of the eye, by which those who possess it controul the will and dictate the motions of their victims. What can your brother have in common with that fearful woman, that he should leave us, obviously against his will, to attend to her commands?»

« At least," said Lucy, « we may hold him safe from harm, for she would never have summoned that faithful creature Dinmont, of whose courage and steadiness Henry said so much, to attend upon an expedition where she projected evil to the person of his friend. of his friend. And now let us

go back to the house till the Colonel returns