r music. She does not
often sing now-a-days. She is quite melancholy, and it's a long time
since I've heard her guitar. She sings and plays sweetly; her poor
father had her taught everything before he failed, for he was very proud
of her, as well he might be."

They sunk again into the covert, the outlaw muttering sullenly at the
interruption which had come between him and his purposes. The music
touched him not, for he betrayed no consciousness; when, after a few
brief preliminary notes on the instrument, the musician breathed forth
the little ballad which follows:--

LUCY'S SONG.

I.

"I met thy glance of scorn,
And then my anguish slept,
But, when the crowd was gone,
I turned away and wept.

II.

"I could not bear the frown
Of one who thus could move,
And feel that all my fault,
Was only too much love.

III.

"I ask not if thy heart
Hath aught for mine in store,
Yet, let me love thee still,
If thou canst yield no more.

IV.

"Let me unchidden gaze,
Still, on the heaven I see,
Though all its happy rays
Be still denied to me."

A broken line of the lay, murmured at intervals for a few minutes after
the entire piece was concluded, as it were in soliloquy, indicated the
sad spirit of the minstrel. She did not remain long at the window; in a
little while the song ceased, and the light was withdrawn from the
apartment. The musician had retired.

"They say, Guy, that music can quiet the most violent spirit, and it
seems to have had its influence upon you. Does she not sing like a
mocking-bird?--is she not a sweet, a true creature? Why, man! so forward
and furious but now, and now so lifeless! bestir ye! The night wanes."

The person addressed started from his stupor, and, as if utterly
unconscious of what had been going on, _ad interim_, actually replied to
the speech of his companion made a little while prior to the appearance
and music of the young girl, whose presence at that moment had most
probably prevented strife and, possibly, bloodshed. He spoke as if the
interruption had made only a momentary break in the sentence which he
now concluded:--

"He lies at the point of my knife, under my hands, within my power,
without chance of escape, and I am to be held back--kept from
striking--kept from my revenge--and for what? There may be little gain
in the matter--it may not bring money, and there may