ery solitary, the only adjacent house, the
hall, being yet tenantless, and night was gathering fast; for that storm
which had first detained her in the lofty region, (where a darker storm
had gathered round her mind and soul,) had desolated the lower country
all day, flooded the brooks, and delayed her on the road during several
hours.

She fancied a sort of suppressed commotion within, as of whisperings and
stealthy steps, and one voice she clearly overheard, but it was not her
father's. Whether it was that of Lewis (who, however, was not yet
residing there) she knew not, never having heard it in her life; he
avoiding, as was stated, direct intercourse with her--disappearing "like
a guilty thing" whenever her figure appeared in distant approach. What
should this mean? Wild fears, even superstitious ones, of some
indefinite ill or horror impending, began to shake her forced fortitude,
as she stood, half-fearing to ring again--again to hear the melancholy
voice of the dog, as of one lost--to wait--listen--and dream
of--David--death--murder--or even worse, till even the giant horror--the
jail!--and the white-headed prisoner, shrank before the present ominous
mystery--ominous of she _knew_ not what, therefore involving every thing
dreadful. Meanwhile, the swinging of the large oak branches in the close
of a squally day, their groaning, and the vast glooms that their foliage
shed all below, the twilight rapidly deepening into confirmed night, all
tended to the inspiration of a wild unearthly melancholy. Suddenly the
door was opened, while she hesitated to ring again, and by a _black_
man! Persons of colour are rarely seen inland, in Wales, and Winifred
had never visited a seaport of any consequence; so that even this was
almost a shock. She quickly, however, guessed that this was a servant of
the "Nabob," brought over with him. The man, learning her name, bade her
enter, adding, that she would see her father _soon_, but that "massa"
was within, settling some affairs with Mr Lewis, and begged to see her.
A sort of grim grin, though joined to a deference that seemed, to her
troubled and broken spirit, and sunken heart, a cruel mockery, relaxed
the man's features, and half shocked, half irritated her. Her spirits,
however, rose with the occasion, demanding all her fortitude and all
her tact; for now she was to make that impression on this terrible
suitor's fancy, through which alone she could work out her father's
salvation. I