long intervals and in an irregular manner, gradually ap proached more near, and they could plainly distinguish the trampling of horses' feet over the beaten track that winded among the crags as far as the cottage door. Again, and with great eagerness, Cormac entreated his love to secure herself from the chances of their first encounter, by joining the family in the inner room; but she refused in a resolute tone, and on persisting, she assumed an impatience, and even a desperation of manner, which showed that her purpose was not to be shaken. "Ask me not to leave you", she said; any other command I am ready to obey. I will be silent; I will not shriek, nor murmur, even though

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She shud

dered, and let her head droop upon his hand. "I will not leave you, Cormac. Whatever your fate shall be, I must remain to witness it. Do not doubt my firmness; only say that you will freely trust me, and I am ready for the worst that can happen. I feel that I can be calm, if you will only give me your confidence".

There are some spirits which, like the myrtle, require to be bruised and broken by affliction, before their sweetness can be discovered. The young bride of Cormac might now have exhibited an instance of this moral truth. So perfectly did her manner indicate the degree of self-possession which she promised to maintain, that Cormac yielded without further argument to her entreaty, and resumed his place at the fireside.

Scarcely had he performed this movement when a loud knocking was again heard at the door; and immediately after, as if this slight ceremony were only used in mockery, the frail barrier was once more dashed inward on its hinges. A crowd of soldiers rushed into the apartment, and stopped short on seeing the bridegroom habited in the accoutrements of the White Knight, and standing in a posture of defence between his foes and the young girl, who seemed to be restrained, rather by her deference to

his wishes, than by any personal apprehension, from pressing forward to his side.

"Stand back!" said Cormac, levelling his blade at the foremost of the throng. "Before you advance further, say what it is you seek. The inmates of this house (all but one) are under the protection of the English law, and can only be molested at your great peril".

"If you be the White Knight, as your dress bespeaks you," returned an English officer, "surrender your sword and person into our hands. It is only him we seek, and no one else shall be disturbed, further than to answer our claim of bonaght bor-rest and refreshment for our small troop until the morning breaks".

"I am not so thirsty of blood for the sake of shedding it merely", returned the pseudo knight, "that I would destroy a life of Heaven's bestowing in a vain encounter. Here is my sword, although I am well aware that in yielding it without a struggle, I do not add a single one to my chances (if any I had) of safety in the hands of my Lord President".

I am

"It would be dishonourable in me to deceive you", said the Englishman: "your ready, though late, surrender can avail you little. I have here the warrant, which commands that the execution of the rebel captain should not be deferred longer than six hours after his arrest. not disposed, however, to be more rigid than my instructions compel me to be, so that you may call the whole six hours your own, if you can find use for so much time in this world".

Cormac turned pale, and thought of Minny; but he dared not look at her. The poor girl endeavoured to support herself against the chair which her lover had left vacant, and retired a little, lest he should observe and participate in the agitation which this fatal announcement had occasioned.

"I thought it probable", said Cormac, with some hesita

tion, "that I might have had a day, a: all events, to prepare for my fate; but my Lord President is a pious man, and must be better aware than I, how much time a sinner under arms might require to collect his evidence for that last and fearful court-martial, whose decision is irrevocable. A soldiers conscience, sir officer, is too often the only thing about him which he allows to gather rust. If I had been careful to preserve that as unsullied as my sword, I would not esteem your six hours so short a space as they now appear".

"The gift of grace, sir knight", said a solemn-looking sergeant, "is not like an Earthly plant, which requires much time and toil to bring its blossom forth. Heard ye not of the graceless traveller, who, riding somewhat more than a Sabbath-day's journey on the seventh, was thrown from his horse and kilied near a place of worship? The congregation thought his doom was sealed for both worlds, and yet,

Between the stirrup and the ground,

Mercy he sought and mercy he found".

"Aye", said the captive; "there are some persons who look on this world as mere billeting quarters, and require no more time to prepare for the eternal route than they might to brace up a havresac; but my memory is not so light of carriage. I remember to have heard at Mungharid, a Latin adage, which might shake the courage of any one who was inclined to rely venturously on his powers of spiritual dispatch :-

Unus erat-ne desperes :

Unus tantum-ne presuma3.

However, I shall be as far wide of the first peril as I should wish to be of the last. Come, sirs, you forget your supper; leave me to my own thoughts, and pray respect this maiden, who will attend to your wants while I rest".

"She seems as if she would more willingly omit that

office", said the Englishman. "The maiden droops sorely for your misfortune, Knight".

"Poor girl!" Cormac exclaimed, venturing to look round upon her for the first time since his capture. "It is little wonder that she should wear a troubled brow. You have disturbed her bridal feast". Then taking her hand, and pressing it significantly while he spoke, he added: "Your husband was reckoned a true man, and I know him well enough to be convinced that he would not place his heart in the keeping of an unworthy or a selfish love. I know, therefore, that you could not make him happier than by acting on this occasion with that firmness which he expects from you. Tell him, I knew better the value of life than to lament my fate, at least for my own sake; and remember, likewise, Minny (is not that your name?) if ever Cormac should, like me, be hurried off by an untimely stroke of fate—if ever”—he renewed the pressure of the hand, which he still held in his-" if ever you should see him led, as I must now be, to an early death, remember, my girl, that none but the cravenhearted are short-lived on Earth. A brave man, who had fulfilled all his duties, can never die untimely; but a coward would, though every hair were gray upon his brow".

He strove to withdraw his hand; but Minny, who felt as if he were tearing her heart away from her, held it fast between both hers, and pressed it with the grasp of a drowning person. Cormac felt, by the trembling and moistness of her hand, that she was on the point of placing all in danger by bursting into a passion of grief. He lowered his voice to a tone of grave reproof, and said :

"Remember, Minny, let him not find that he has been deceived in you. That would be a worse stroke than the headsman's".

The forlorn girl collected all her strength, and felt the tumult that was rising in her breast subside, like the

uproar of the northern tempest, at the voice of the Reimkennar. She let his hand go, and stood erect, while he passed on, followed by several of the party, into another room. Strange as sorrow had ever been to her bosom, she could not have anticipated, and was wholly incapable of supporting, the dreadful desolation of spirit which came upon her after she was left alone. She remained for some time motionless, in the attitude of one who listens intently, until she heard the door of a small inner apartment, into which he had been conducted, close upon her lover; and then, gathering her hands across her bosom, and walking slowly to the vacant chair, she sank down in a violent and hysterical excess of grief.

It is strange that the effusion of a few drops of a briny liquid at the eyes, should enable the soul to give more tranquil entertainment to a painful thought or feeling; but it is a fact, however, which Minny experienced in common with all who have known what painful feelings are. She pictured to herself the probable nature of the fate which awaited her betrothed; and from the horror which she felt in the contemplation, proceeded to devise expedients for its prevention. This, however, appeared now to be a hopeless undertaking. The warrant of the Lord President must needs be executed within the time; and it was improbable that the White Knight could return before the expiration of the six hours. Would it be possible to contrive a scheme for his liberation? His guards were vigilant and numerous, and there was but one way by which he could return from the room, and that was occupied by sentinels. If Mun, or the Kerry thief, his master, were on the spot, of what a load might they relieve her heart! She would have given worlds to be mistress, for one night, of the roguery of the adept in aunt Norry's tale.

We shall leave her for the present, involved, like a bungling dramatist. in a labyrinth of ravelled plots and