has not invited me to his hiding-place to lodge me meanly (Heaven
forgive me for laughing at the poor man; for we owe him our lives!) nay,
nor to send me supperless to bed. See!" she added, pointing to a small
brazen kettle, which her quick eye detected among the leaves, and which
was soon followed by a second that Emperor stirred up from its
concealment, and both of them, as was soon perceived, still retaining the
odour of a recent savoury stew: "Look well, Emperor: where the kitchen
is, the larder cannot be far distant. I warrant we shall find that Nathan
has provided us a good supper."

"Such, perhaps, as a woodman only can eat," said Roland, who, somewhat
surprised at the superfluous number of Nathan's valuables (for to Nathan,
he doubted not, they belonged), had begun stirring the leaves, and
succeeded in raking up with his rifle, which he had not laid aside, a
little earthen pouch, well stored with parched corn. "A strange fellow,
this Nathan," he muttered: "he really spoke as if he had not visited the
ruin for a considerable period; whereas it is evident he must have slept
here last night. But he seems to affect mystery in all that concerns his
own private movements--it is the character of his persuasion."

While Roland, with the females, was thus laying hands, and speculating,
upon the supposed chattels of their conductor, Nathan himself entered the
apartment, betraying some degree of agitation in his countenance; whilst
the faithful Peter, who followed at his side, manifested equal
uneasiness, by snuffing the air, whining, and rubbing himself frequently
against his master's legs.

"Friends," he cried, abruptly, "Peter talks too plainly to be mistaken:
there is mischief nigh at hand, though where, or how it can be, sinner
and weak foolish man that I am, I know not: we must leave warm fires and
soft beds, and take refuge again in the woods."

This unexpected announcement again banished the blood from Edith's
cheeks. She had, on his entrance, caught the pouch of corn from Roland's
hands, intending to present it to the guide, with some such light
expressions as should convince her kinsman of her recovered spirits; but
the visage and words of Nathan struck her dumb, and she stood holding
it in her hand, without speaking a word, until it caught Nathan's eye. He
snatched it from her grasp, surveying it with astonishment and even
alarm, and only ceased to look at it, when little Peter, who had run into
the corner a