gain the
grating voice of Roupall ascended.

"Double or quits; Lord, ye needn't be so touchy about a little word of
familiarity--such fellowship makes all men equal."

"Well then, double, if so it must be; only remember, Roupall, there is
some difference between the employer and the employed," was the knight's
answer. And the high-born and the low-born ruffian walked away together;
and the bright beams of the holy moon and the unsullied stars fell upon
them as gently, as if they had been good and faithful ministers of the
Almighty's will.

The two leading features of Barbara Iverk's character were, fidelity and
affection; all her feelings and actions were but various modifications
of these great principles--in every sense of the word, she was
simple-minded. After the men had departed for some time, still she could
hardly bring herself to understand or believe the nature or extent of
the crime they meditated.

It was surely a most singular manifestation of God's providence, she
thought, which placed her there, that she might overhear, and it might
be prevent the great wickedness of those evil men. She descended from
the window with haste, but with caution also, for the stones crumbled
from beneath her feet as she moved along. She had scarcely set her foot
on the grass turf, when the dog was at her side, whining and fawning
with delight at again meeting with her friend and mistress. Barbara
crossed the wild country, and gained the park-wall without encountering
any danger. When there, she paused breathlessly under an oak, and would
have given worlds to see and speak to her friend Robin. Amid the
deepness of night, and among the foliage of the trees, she thought she
discerned the figure of a person creeping beneath the boughs--now in
shadow, and now casting his own shadow upon what had shadowed him. This
appearance terrified her so exceedingly that she did not gain courage to
proceed, until she saw that he turned into a distant path; she then
stole slowly along under the shelter of the wall, and when she came to a
small gate which opened into the park, within view of the mansion, she
pushed through it, and just gained the lawn, when the sound of a
pistol, and a flash through the darkness, terrified her so much, that
she fell, faint and exhausted, on the sward.

CHAPTER II.

A mystery! ay, good, my masters.
----there's mystery
In a moonbeam--in a gnat's wing--
In the formation of an atom--