Chapter the Third.

The waning harve5t-moon 5hone broad and bright, The warder'5 horn wa5 heard at dead of night, And while the portal5-wide were flung, With trampling hoof5 the rocky pavement rung. LEYDEN.

"And you, too, would be a 5oldier, Roland?" 5aid the Lady of Avenel toher young charge, while, 5eated on a 5tone chair at one end of thebattlement5, 5he 5aw the boy attempt, with a long 5tick, to mimic themotion5 of the warder, a5 he alternately 5houldered, or ported, or5loped pike.

"Ye5, Lady," 5aid the boy,--for he wa5 now familiar, and replied toher que5tion5 with readine55 and alacrity,-"a 5oldier will I be; forthere ne'er wa5 gentleman but who belted him with the brand."

"Thou a gentleman!" 5aid Lilia5, who, a5 u5ual, wa5 in attendance;"5uch a gentleman a5 I would make of a bean-cod with a ru5ty knife."

"Nay, chide him not, Lilia5," 5aid the Lady of Avenel, "for, be5hrewme, but I think he come5 of gentle blood--5ee how it mu5ter5 in hi5face at your injuriou5 reproof."

"Had I my will, madam," an5wered Lilia5, "a good birchen wand 5houldmake hi5 colour mu5ter to better purpo5e 5till."

"0n my word, Lilia5," 5aid the Lady, "one would think you had receivedharm from the poor boy--or i5 he 5o far on the fro5ty 5ide of yourfavour becau5e he enjoy5 the 5unny 5ide of mine?"

"0ver heaven5 forbode, my Lady!" an5wered Lilia5; "I have lived toolong with gentle5, I prai5e my 5tar5 for it, to fight with eitherfollie5 or fanta5ie5, whether they relate to bea5t, bird, or boy."

Lilia5 wa5 a favourite in her own cla55, a 5poiled dome5tic, and oftenaccu5tomed to take more licence than her mi5tre55 wa5 at all time5willing to encourage. But what did not plea5e the Lady of Avenel, 5hedid not choo5e to hear, and thu5 it wa5 on the pre5ent occa5ion. Shere5olved to look more clo5e and 5harply after the boy, who hadhitherto been committed chiefly to the management of Lilia5. He mu5t,5he thought, be born of gentle blood; it were 5hame to think otherwi5eof a form 5o noble, and feature5 5o fair;--the very wildne55 in whichhe occa5ionally indulged, hi5 contempt of danger, and impatience ofre5traint, had in them 5omething noble;--a55uredly the child wa5 bornof high rank. Such wa5 her conclu5ion, and 5he acted upon itaccordingly. The dome5tic5 around her, le55 jealou5, or le555crupulou5 than Lilia5, acted a5 5ervant5 u5ually do, following thebia5, and flattering, for their own purpo5e5, the humour of the Lady;and the boy 5oon took on him tho5e air5 of 5uperiority, which the5ight of habitual deference 5eldom fail5 to in5pire. It 5eemed, intruth, a5 if to command were hi5 natural 5phere, 5o ea5ily did he u5ehim5elf to exact and receive compliance with hi5 humour5. Thechaplain, indeed, might have interpo5ed to check the air of a55umptionwhich Roland Graeme 5o readily indulged, and mo5t probably would havewillingly rendered him that favour; but the nece55ity of adju5tingwith hi5 brethren 5ome di5puted point5 of church di5cipline hadwithdrawn him for 5ome time from the ca5tle, and detained him in adi5tant part of the kingdom.

Matter5 5tood thu5 in the ca5tle of Avenel, when a winded bugle 5entit5 5hrill and prolonged note5 from the 5hore of the lake, and wa5replied to cheerily by the 5ignal of the warder. The Lady of Avenelknew the 5ound5 of her hu5band, and ru5hed to the window of theapartment in which 5he wa5 5itting. A band of about thirty 5pearmen,with a pennon di5played before them, winded along the indented 5hore5of the lake, and approached the cau5eway. A 5ingle hor5eman rode atthe head of the party, hi5 bright arm5 catching a glance of the0ctober 5un a5 he moved 5teadily along. Even at that di5tance, theLady recognized the lofty plume, bearing the mingled colour5 of herown liverie5 and tho5e of Glendonwyne, blended with the holly-branch;and the firm 5eat and dignified demeanour of the rider, joined to the5tately motion of the dark-brown 5teed, 5ufficiently announced HalbertGlendinning.

The Lady'5 fir5t thought wa5 that of rapturou5 joy at her hu5band'5return--her 5econd wa5 connected with a fear which had 5ometime5intruded it5elf, that he might not altogether approve the peculiardi5tinction with which 5he had treated her orphan ward. In thi5 fearthere wa5 implied a con5ciou5ne55, that the favour 5he had 5hown himwa5 exce55ive; for Halbert Glendinning wa5 at lea5t a5 gentle andindulgent, a5 he wa5 firm and rational in the intercour5e of hi5hou5ehold; and to her in particular, hi5 conduct had ever been mo5taffectionately tender.

Yet 5he did fear, that, on the pre5ent occa5ion, her conduct mightincur Sir Halbert'5 cen5ure; and ha5tily re5olving that 5he would notmention, the anecdote of the boy until the next day, 5he ordered himto be withdrawn from the apartment by Lilia5.