most rare and excellent device. To this end he
resolved on going to the hall the night preceding his appointment; in
the meantime diligently maturing his scheme for the surprise and
delight of the cunning maiden.

With the evening of an unusually long and tedious day, whose minutes
had been spun to hours, and these hours into ages, did Master Anthony
Hardcastle, accompanied by his servant, set forth on this perilous
exploit. Upon a rich and comely suit, consisting of a light blue
embroidered vest, and a rich coat of peach-coloured velvet, with
bag-wig and ruffles, was thrown a dark cloak, partly intended as a
disguise, and partly to screen his gay habiliments from dust and
pollution.

They passed slowly on for an hour or two, dropping down to the little
wicket as aforetime, above which the crows were again ready with the
usual inquiries. The squires being left with the steeds, Master
Anthony once more scrambled over the garden hedge, and sustained his
person in a becoming attitude against the pear-tree whence he had so
successfully attacked and carried the citadel on his former visit. He
now beheld, with wonder, lights dancing about in the house, frisking
and frolicking through the long casements like so many
jack-o'-lanterns. Indeed, the greater part of the mansion seemed all
a-blaze, and of an appalling and suspicious brightness. Sounds,
moreover, of mirth and revelry approached his ear. He would instantly
have proceeded to ascertain the cause of this inauspicious
merry-making had not Kate's injunction kept him aloof. The noise of
minstrelsy was now heard--symptoms of the marriage-feast and the
banquet. More than once he suspected some witchery, some delusion of
the enemy to beguile him by enchantments. However, he resolved to be
quiet; and, for the purpose of a more extended vision, he climbed, or
rather stepped into, the low huge fork of the tree. From this tower of
observation he kept a wary eye, more particularly towards the window
whence the billet was thrown, expecting to behold some token of his
mistress's presence. But this chamber seemed to be the dullest and
darkest in the whole house; not a ray was visible. It seemed shut out,
impervious to the gladness which irradiated the bosom of its
neighbours.

A white cur now came snarling about the bushes; then, cautiously
smelling his way to the tree, suddenly set up a yell so deafening and
continuous that he roused some of the revellers within. Two men
stagger