here clothed with timber almost to the
water's edge. Wild fowl skimmed over its glassy surface, or dipped in
search of its finny prey, and here and there a heron might be detected
standing in some shallow nook, and feasting on the smaller fry. A flight
of cawing rooks were settling upon the tall trees on the right bank, and
the voices of the thrush, the blackbird, and other feathered songsters
burst in redundant melody from the nearer groves.

A verdant path, partly beneath the trees, and partly on the side of the
lake, led Wolsey to the forester's hut. Constructed of wood and clay,
with a thatched roof, green with moss, and half overgrown with ivy, the
little building was in admirable keeping with the surrounding scenery.
Opposite the door, and opening upon the lake, stood a little boathouse,
and beside it a few wooden steps, defended by a handrail, ran into
the water. A few yards beyond the boathouse the brook before mentioned
emptied its waters into the lake.

Gazing with much internal satisfaction at the hut, Wolsey bade Patch
dismount, and ascertain whether Mabel was within. The buffoon obeyed,
tried the door, and finding it fastened, knocked, but to no purpose.

After a pause of a few minutes, the cardinal was turning away in extreme
disappointment, when a small skiff, rowed by a female hand, shot round
an angle of the lake and swiftly approached them. A glance from Patch
would have told Wolsey, had he required any such information, that this
was the forester's granddaughter. Her beauty quite ravished him, and
drew from him an exclamation of wonder and delight. Features regular,
exquisitely moulded, and of a joyous expression, a skin dyed like a
peach by the sun, but so as to improve rather than impair its hue; eyes
bright, laughing, and blue as a summer sky; ripe, ruddy lips, and pearly
teeth; and hair of a light and glossy brown, constituted the sum of
her attractions. Her sylph-like figure was charmingly displayed by
the graceful exercise on which she was engaged, and her small hands,
seemingly scarcely able to grasp an oar, impelled the skiff forwards
with marvellous velocity, and apparently without much exertion on her
part.

Unabashed by the presence of the strangers, though Wolsey's attire could
leave her in no doubt as to his high ecclesiastical dignity, she sprang
ashore at the landing-place, and fastened her bark to the side of the
boathouse.

"You are Mabel Lyndwood, I presume, fair maiden?" inquir