et; that I may sometimes come hither and
behold that gracious countenance, and thank God that I was honoured so
far as to give thee food from my own breast, and to bring thee up to be
a blessing to me, and to all that know thee!"

Edmund was affected, he returned her embrace; he bade her come to the
Castle as often as she pleased, and she should always be received as his
mother; the bride saluted her, and told her the oftener she came, the
more welcome she should be.

Margery and her husband retired, full of blessings and prayers for their
happiness; she gave vent to her joy, by relating to the servants and
neighbours every circumstance of Edmund's birth, infancy, and childhood.
Many a tear was dropped by the auditors, and many a prayer wafted to
Heaven for his happiness. Joseph took up the story where she left it:
he told the rising dawn of youth and virtue, darting its ray through the
clouds of obscurity, and how every stroke of envy and malignity brushed
away some part of the darkness that veiled its lustre. He told the story
of the haunted apartment, and all the consequences of it; how he and
Oswald conveyed the youth away from the Castle, no more to return till
he came as master of it. He closed the tale with praise to Heaven for
the happy discovery, that gave such an heir to the house of Lovel;
to his dependants such a Lord and Master; to mankind a friend and
benefactor. There was truly a house of joy; not that false kind, in
the midst of which there is heaviness, but that of rational creatures,
grateful to the Supreme Benefactor, raising their minds by a due
enjoyment of earthly blessings to a preparation for a more perfect state
hereafter.

A few days after the wedding, the Lord Fitz-Owen began to prepare
for his journey to the north. He gave to Edmund the plate, linen, and
furniture of the Castle, the farming stock and utensils; he would have
added a sum of money, but Sir Philip stopped his hand.

"We do not forget," said he, "that you have other children, we will not
suffer you to injure them; give us your blessing and paternal affection,
and we have nothing more to ask. I told you, my Lord, that you and I
should one day be sincere friends."

"We must be so," answered the Baron; "it is impossible to be long your
enemy. We are brothers, and shall be to our lives' end."

They regulated the young man's household; the Baron gave leave to the
servants to choose their master; the elder ones followed him (excep