across meadow, wood, and pasture; green slopes dotted with
bright homesteads, to the very base apparently of, though at some
distance from, Blackstonedge, now of the deepest, the most intense
blue. Such a daring contrast of colour gave a force and depth to the
landscape, which, had it been portrayed, would, to critical eyes
perhaps, have outraged the modesty of Nature.

The sky was already growing cold and grey above the ridge opposed to
the burning brightness of the western horizon, and Grace Ashton
pointed out the beautiful but fleeting hues of the landscape around
them. Her companion, however, was engrossed by another object. Before
them was an eminence marking the horizon to the north-west, though not
more than a good bowshot from where they stood. Between this and
their present standing was a little grassy hollow, through which the
brook we have described trickled rather than ran, amidst moss and
rushes, rendering the ground swampy and unsafe. On this hill stood
"Robin Hood's coit-stones;" and on the largest, called the
"marking-stone," a wild-looking and haggard figure was crouched. Her
garments, worn and tattered, were of a dingy red; and her cap, or
_coiffure_ as it was then called, was of the same colour. Her head was
bent forward beyond the knee, as though she were listening towards
the ground, or was expecting the approach of the individuals who now
came suddenly, and to themselves unexpectedly, in view. Her figure, in
the glow of that rich autumnal sky, looked of the deepest crimson, and
of a bloody and portentous aspect.

"What strange apparition is yonder," said Gervase Buckley, "on the
hill-top there before us? Beshrew me, Grace, but it hath an evil and a
rancorous look."

But Grace, along with a short scream of surprise, betrayed, too, her
recognition of the object, and clung with such evident terror to her
companion that he turned from the object of his inquiries to gaze on
his mistress.

"What!" said he, "hath yonder unknown such power? Methinks it hath
moved thee strangely. Speak, Grace; can that hideous appearance in any
way be linked with our destiny?"

"I am ignorant as thou. But its coming, as I have heard, always
forebodes disaster to our house. Hast not heard of a Red Woman that
sometimes haunts this neighbourhood? I never saw her until now, but
I've heard strange and fearful stories of her appearing some years
ago, and blighting the corn, poisoning the cattle, with many other
diabolical