and careful tutor. To fill her quick and sensitive mind with such knowledge as was suited to her years, and to embue her heart with feelings that elevate, while they soften, was to him the most delightful task that he had known for years. Many a time would he turn away and weep, in spite of himself, at some accidental glance, or tone, or expression, so like that of her whom he had lost, that it seemed but the shadow, or the echo, or the repetition of that which lived so strongly in his memory; and little Emily's own soft blue eyes would fill with tears, as she observed his agitation, which she knew not the reason of, while she felt his tears upon her face as he kissed her a thousand times. was It happened that Mr M able to teach his daughter not only the more solid parts of knowledge, which educated men all possess, but also those accomplishments which, for the most part, are more common tɔ women-viz. music and drawing, in both of which he had once been rather a proficient; and his skill speedily revived as he found it necessary to put it in practice for Emily's advantage. In dancing, however, he would have been at fault, were it not for the Swiss servant, who proved, in this matter, a most useful ally, as, indeed, she was in sundry other little matters relating to needles and thread, and shears, and so forth, which were of no small value, not to say necessity, in a place which boasted not of either a fashioner of dresses, or a constructor of bonnets, within seven miles. It would have been a pretty and amusing sight, if one could have seen it, to look at the beautiful young Emily receiving her lesson in the saltatory art, from her now somewhat ancient professor, while her father, at the piano-forte, supplied the requisite music. Old Marguerite knew the dances of her country well, besides that she had been a little time in Paris, where she learned some refinement upon her country fashions, so far as her feet were concerned, but her heart happily remained such as she had brought it from the mountains. Emily reached the age of seventeen, as lovely and as accomplished a rl as ever lived unknown in a sc cluded valley. I have said she was innocent as the flowers, and so she was; her joy was light and free as the air that played around her own mountains; yet her soul sometimes lifted itself up, and, like their pinnacles, soared heaven-ward, or looking deep into itself, would behold therein the indistinct forms of a thousand shadowy thoughts that know not utterance, until some strong circumstance gives them more perfect shape, and calls them forth. The joy of her father's heart was buried in the grave with his dead wife, and the more surely so, because every circumstance thatwould have brought joy-even his daughter's beauty and surpassing goodness-served to remind him of her who was gone, and thus dashed even the flowers of his heart with the dews of sorrow. Still, however, he had a serious gladness in the contemplation of all his Emily had grown to be, and her affection soothed his heart, and made his eyes fill with tears that were not those of pain; but as every satisfaction almost, has some anxiety attendant upon it, even as its shadow, so had this: he felt occasionally, that although in respect of years he was little beyond what is called the prime of life, yet in appearance, and in constitution, he was already old, and it was dreadful to think of what might become of his Emily, unprotected as she was, when he should be called away. His thanksgivings, therefore, to God, for the great blessing which he had vouchsafed to him in her, were not unmingled with earnest petitions, that the protecting hand of an all-watchful Providence would guard his child, and be unto her as a guide and a stay, when time to him should be no more. His neighbour the Colonel, though but a few years his junior, still appeared, as he actually was, in the vigour of life, and continued a bachelor; but to keep down the pride of some nephews, which was sometimes troublesome to him, and perhaps, too, because it did not diminish the favourable regards of the ladies in the houses which he visited, (for we have said he had a good estate,) he was accustomed to give out that he by no means intended to continue all his life a single man-that he thought it right to consider at his leisure before he surrendered the freedom of a bachelor's life, but by and by he would certainly" settle," and, of course, an heir to his estate was to follow. He had seen Emily M-occasionally as she grew up, and now he saw her in the almost matured loveliness of womanhood, and he felt towards her as the grossness of his nature was alone capable of feeling. At no time of his life could he have felt himself what pure love was, or understood what was meant by others when they spoke of it; now that his heart was still more hardened by time, and any little sense of delicacy he ever had, utterly dissipated by constant intercourse with the profligate and the vile, he heard of love only to laugh at it. Yet his eyes followed after the young Emily with a filthy glare, and the brute passion that burned within him, was blended with another that added to its fierceness-he still hated her father, and with as strong a hate as ever; for the respectability of his character, notwithstanding his slender means, elevated him in some sort into a rival; and the presence of an independent man so near him, was an offence in his nostrils. In the dark recesses, therefore, of his gross and guilty mind, he desired to gratify at once his lust and his hatred, and he dared deliberately to think of the means by which he might accomplish the child's dishonour, and through that dishonour, bring down her father's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. He was a man that would not be startled by either the difficulty or the villainy of an attempt to accomplish what he wished, and his first plan was to bring himself upon some terms of acquaintance with the young lady; and with this view he invited his nephew, a youth of eighteen, to spend his college vacation with him in the country, rightly judging, that through his assistance an acquaintance would be more likely to be opened than if he trusted to any civilities of his own. The Colonel was in the habit of going to church, for which he had certain reasons of his own that had nothing to do with religion; to the same church, which was about two miles from their dwelling in the glen, went also, on every Sunday that they could walk thither, Mr M and his daughter, accompanied by their ser- The youth acted upon all this advice, but he needed not the suggestion to be respectful. There is a something in the feeling of admiration which beauty, and simplicity, and gracefulness, cause to spring up in the youthful mind, which is associated with the very deepest feelings of respect; and upon the contrived accidental meeting, which took place as Colonel B had planned it, this careful deference, united with a prepossessing figure and a good address, made a most favourable im pression on the unsophisticated Emily; she accepted, with grateful thanks, the beautiful flowers which were offered to her, and as Marguerite was with her, she did not forbid the young gentleman to walk by her side as she went home, nor, indeed, could she well do so, as their way was the same. To the invitation to see the conservatory, she replied by avowing her wish to see any thing so beauti ful as she had always heard it described to be; but she would ask her father whether she might go with Marguerite. She did ask, and was told that it would not be right; and so much was she accustomed to mould her wishes upon those of her father, that she assented to his negative with the same cheerfulness that she would have received his permis sion. Although disappointed in some measure by the ill success of this part of his scheme, Colonel B determined to take advantage of the acquaintance which his nephew had opened; and when Emily went abroad without her father, he contrived to walk with his nephew where they should meet her; nor did the nearer view of her innocent beauty in the least turn his cold and sensual heart from its brutal purpose. Emily, of course, told her father of these accidental meetings, to which he made no objection, unwilling to provoke any needless enmity, and not supposing it possible that any evil purpose could have been intended by them. At length his nephew's vacation ended, and the Colonel was left to pur sue his plans alone. My readers will perhaps expect that I shall have to tell them, that the young collegian took away with him the heart of Emily, but it was not so; she thought him the pleasantest young gentleman she had met, because he was almost the only one; but she knew not what love was. There was a bold decision in the character of Colonel B-, which had frequently been the cause of his success in the evil designs which he undertook, and having thus acquired a confidence in this method of carrying his purposes, it became habitual, and he had no longer sufficient pas tience in action for the villainy which his mind contemplated. He resolved, therefore, to bring his plans upon Emily Mimmediately to a point, and finding that, since his nephew's departure, he could not obtain more from her in the way of speech when he met her than a passing salutation, he ventured, in strong reliance upon his own merits, and the vanity which he supposed common to women, to write, and have privately conveyed to her, a letter, which he expected, if it would not at once obtain, would at least lead to the accomplishment of, his purpose. In the language of dexterous flattery, he complimented her beauty and her various accomplishments-lamented that she had not been born somewhat earlier, or himself somewhat later, that their years might have been more nearly equal, yet protested that the fire of love burned within his heart with all the fervour of youthful enthusiasm-spoke of the pride and joy with which he should see her the sharer of his fortune, and the mistress of his household, and concluded at length with a statement, that certain circumstances of a delicate nature, which he would afterwards explain, made it inconvenient that the union, which was the highest object of his hopes, should take place at home; and a proposal, that, relying upon his faith and honour, she would commit herself to his protection, while he conveyed her to France, and there made her his by all the ties which could unite faithful lovers. He had been so little accustomed to deal with perfect simplicity and innocence, that he never once supposed it possible that Emily would immediately hand this letter to her father, notwithstanding a postscript particularly cautioning her against making the slightest mention of it to him; but she was so bewildered by its contents as scarcely to know what was meant by it, and gave it to her father as a something to be explained to her, rather than resented by him. Her father's brow grew dark as night as he read the letter, and he bit his lip till the blood sprung from it. Emily trembled, and besought the reason of this agitation.-" Leave me," he said," leave me, my child, for a while-this is a serious matter, and I must consider of it.-Unutter able villain!" he continued, as he paced about the room like a distracted man, after his daughter had left him; "insulting scoundrel! But he shall pay for this the usage of the world gives me one mode of vengeance, and I shall take it, though I risk my life, and more than my life, to obtain it-aye, and I shall do it instantly-I shall not suffer my blood to cool, lest haply this monster should escape. I am alone-I have no friend to stand by my side-but I will go alone, and one of us shall die. Õh Emily! God shield thee then!" He covered his face with his hands for a moment, and then flung away into his study, where he had his pistolsthey were kept loaded for the security of the house-he put them in his pockets, put on his hat, and rushed out, with more energy of body, and a thousand times more fury of mind, than he had ever before possessed. The shades of evening were now closing in, and the moon was rising, but he thought not of the time, nor of any thing but immediate vengeance; for he too well knew the man he had to deal with, not to understand his letter in its true light, and not to know that the foulest injury was intended. Here we must leave him for a while, to relate some other circumstances which in their consummation became connected with the catastrophe of that evening. In a broad cleft, or hollow, in the mountain's side, about two miles from Glen Cruagh, there had lived, about eight years before, an old woman and her two sons, famed as a triumvirate of wickedness-the sons occasionally had employment as labourers, but it was understood they lived chiefly by depredation; and if a sheep was missed off the mountain's side, it was suspected that mutton, or the value of it, found its way thereupon into the cabin of the "Widdy Lynch." If any young girl in the country side was found to have bartered her virtue for gold, Widdy Lynch was sure to have had some concern in it; and if any robbery took place, her cabin was the first searched for the stolen goods. As this woman and her sons, although more than suspected to be concerned in so much guilt, continued always to keep clear of such evidence as would convict them, the old woman obtained the reputation of dealing with the devil-a rumour which she by no means discouraged, as it gave her a double influence in carrying on her nefarious traffic, and in evading its consequences. But the pitcher, as the proverb says, though it goeth often to the well, is at last broken; and so it fell out with the family of the Lynches. Colonel Bhad some designs upon a young woman, who lived in her father's house at the mountain's foot, about two miles beyond Lynch's cabin; and the attentions of the Colonel, or intentions rather, becoming known to a young farmer who conceived he had some pretensions to the young woman of an honester character than the Colonel's, he determined upon the Irish method of making short work of the matter, by forcibly carrying her off, and for this purpose he hired the two Lynches, who were always ready to engage in any act of desperation for a reward. With their assistance the young man succeeded in his lawless attempt; but Colonel B, who was a very active magistrate when personally concerned, resolved to deter others from future interference of a similar kind with his amusements, and seized the culprits, whose haunts he well knew. The men were brought to trial; and merely because Mr M- had the reputation of being a kind man, and a friend to the poor, they summoned him to “give them a character;" for the Irish peasantry cannot to this day be persuaded that a trial is merely an enquiry into the truth, but believe that it is a mode of attack, much less agreeable to them than if made with sticks and stones, but still one in which a muster of friends is of great avail. It was in vain Mr M-protested he could say nothing to their advantage. They insisted on his being examined, because "they wor sure his honour was too kind a gintleman to give them a bad word;" and he was examined, and what he said in some measure tended to their conviction. Both Lynches were found guilty, one as principal, the other as an accessory; and one was transported for life, and the other for seven years. The mother escaped being implicated in this affair; but while the proceedings were going on, she flitted up and down the country like an evil spirit-now here, now there with a mysterious swiftness that added to her fame for supernatural agency. Supplication -vows of vengeance-curses, deep and dire, she used, as it was her purpose to coax or to intimidate those whose evidence was to be used against her sons, but all was unavailing; and when they were now pronounced guilty, her face grew black, and she muttered and trembled, but shed no tears. When, with the rest of the grand jury, Colonel B-was leaving the court house, she threw herself in his way, flung back her bright red cloak, the hood of which had, until then, enveloped her head, and, on her bended knees, with her hands clasped, and her long grey hair streaming behind, she cursed him with the energy and bitterness of a fiend. "Go along," she said, "and may the curse o' the widow, that's now left childless and desolate, cling about you night, noon, and mornin', as long as you live, and in the flames of hell after ye die-aye, black, hard-hearted, contrivin' villain as ye are, an' always was, an' always will be! Aye, go your ways, and may my curse be poison to your body and your soul! May you never know satisfaction or conțintmint in this world, and may my revenge bring you to a sudden death, and send your soul, hot an' hissin', to hell, from where it came! This is my curse, an' may it fall on you hot and heavy, I pray God!" It was not the words alone, but the fearful demoniac wildness of the manner, which, to those who beheld the woman, gave an impression of indescribable horror. She paused as if from exhaustion; and Mr Mwent over to her, and in words of pity, which even disgust could not overcome, besought her to go away, and submit with decent quiet to the fate which the law had necessarily brought upon her sons. Away!" she said," away! chicken-hearted fool, that wouldn't spake a word for my boys! May be I'll have revenge of you too; but you're not wicked, an' I mustn't curse you." She disappeared, and was seldom seen afterwards in the glen; but once a-year, on the anniversary of the day on which her sons were convicted, she presented herself before Colonel Band renewed her curse. No matter where he went-she dogged him; and on that day, except he confined himself to his chamber, the widow renewed her malediction. Thrice he detected her in crimes, for which he was enabled to throw her into jail for a short period, but still she got free again, and again she tracked his steps, and poured out upon him the bitterness of her heart. About a month before the evening on which Mr M- rushed forth to seek from Colonel B personal satisfaction for the insult offered to his daughter, the widow's son had returned from his exile of seven years. The woman still occupied her wretched cabin on the hill-side, and to that miserable home the young man re turned. The old woman now walked more erect-a gleam of fierce joy was seen now and then to shoot from beneath her projecting brow, and people said it was not like the joy she should have shewn to see her son again, for there was "no tinderness in it, at all at all." But a satisfaction in which there was nothing of tenderness lurked in the woman's heart she had persuaded her son to undertake a murder! On the day on which Colonel Bwrote his letter to Emily, he received a note, which was found in the hall. How it came there, no one could tell; but it was in a woman's hand, ill spelled, and asking him to be on the bank of the stream, below the widow Lynch's cabin, that evening, at the rising of the moon. There were initials to the note which he knew-he put it in the fire, and determined to keep the appointment. He had gone out before Mr Marrived at his gate, and the servant replied, with a look of astonishment, to the quick and fierce demand if his master were at home, " Is it the masther you want, sir?" "Yes I want to see him directly." "I'thin, if its meself that knows— only he wint down the glen, an' I heerd the gossoon sayin' that he met him turnin' up be the river, as he was comin' home just now, wid some trouts." "I shall go and find him," said |