eeth were well set, and as
pure as ivory; whilst his bright blue eye, with a corresponding gaiety,
had an appropriate glance for every object which it encountered,
expressing good humour, lightness of heart, and determined resolution.

He received and returned the salutation of the few travellers who
frequented the road in those dangerous times with the action which
suited each. The strolling spearman, half soldier, half brigand,
measured the youth with his eye, as if balancing the prospect of booty
with the chance of desperate resistance; and read such indications of
the latter in the fearless glance of the passenger, that he changed his
ruffian purpose for a surly "Good morrow, comrade," which the young
Scot answered with as martial, though a less sullen tone. The wandering
pilgrim, or the begging friar, answered his reverent greeting with
a paternal benedicite [equivalent to the English expression, "Bless
you."]; and the dark eyed peasant girl looked after him for many a
step after they had passed each other, and interchanged a laughing good
morrow. In short, there was an attraction about his whole appearance not
easily escaping attention, and which was derived from the combination of
fearless frankness and good humour, with sprightly looks and a handsome
face and person. It seemed, too, as if his whole demeanour bespoke one
who was entering on life with no apprehension of the evils with which
it is beset, and small means for struggling with its hardships, except a
lively spirit and a courageous disposition; and it is with such tempers
that youth most readily sympathizes, and for whom chiefly age and
experience feel affectionate and pitying interest.

The youth whom we have described had been long visible to the two
persons who loitered on the opposite side of the small river which
divided him from the park and the castle; but as he descended the rugged
bank to the water's edge, with the light step of a roe which visits the
fountain, the younger of the two said to the other, "It is our man--it
is the Bohemian! If he attempts to cross the ford, he is a lost man--the
water is up, and the ford impassable."

"Let him make that discovery himself, gossip [an intimate friend or
companion (obsolete)]," said the elder personage; "it may, perchance,
save a rope and break a proverb [refers to the old saw, 'Who is born to
be hanged will never be drowned.']."

"I judge him by the blue cap," said the other, "for I cannot see hi