an inspired champion, transported in the body from some
distant climate, to show us the way to safety; others, again, concluded
that he was a recluse, who, either from motives of piety, or other
cogent reasons, had become a dweller in the wilderness, and shunned the
face of man."

"And, if I may presume to ask," said Julian, "to which of these opinions
were you disposed to adhere?"

"The last suited best with the transient though close view with which I
had perused the stranger's features," replied Bridgenorth; "for although
I dispute not that it may please Heaven, on high occasions, even to
raise one from the dead in defence of his country, yet I doubted not
then, as I doubt not now, that I looked on the living form of one, who
had indeed powerful reasons to conceal him in the cleft of the rock."

"Are these reasons a secret?" said Julian Peveril.

"Not properly a secret," replied Bridgenorth; "for I fear not thy
betraying what I might tell thee in private discourse; and besides, wert
thou so base, the prey lies too distant for any hunters to whom thou
couldst point out its traces. But the name of this worthy will sound
harsh in thy ear, on account of one action of his life--being his
accession to a great measure, which made the extreme isles of the earth
to tremble. Have you never heard of Richard Whalley?"

"Of the regicide?" exclaimed Peveril, starting.

"Call his act what thou wilt," said Bridgenorth; "he was not less the
rescuer of that devoted village, that, with other leading spirits of the
age, he sat in the judgment-seat when Charles Stewart was arraigned at
the bar, and subscribed the sentence that went forth upon him."

"I have ever heard," said Julian, in an altered voice, and colouring
deeply, "that you, Master Bridgenorth, with other Presbyterians, were
totally averse to that detestable crime, and were ready to have made
joint-cause with the Cavaliers in preventing so horrible a parricide."

"If it were so," said Bridgenorth, "we have been richly rewarded by his
successor."

"Rewarded!" exclaimed Julian; "does the distinction of good and evil,
and our obligation to do the one and forbear the other, depend on the
reward which may attach to our actions?"

"God forbid," answered Bridgenorth; "yet those who view the havoc which
this house of Stewart have made in the Church and State--the tyranny
which they exercise over men's persons and consciences--may well doubt
whether it be lawful to use weapo