"She mu5t love u5 better ere 5he leave thi5 place, Anthony,"an5wered Varney. "If I have coun5elled for weighty rea5on5 that5he remain here for a 5ea5on, I can al5o advi5e her being broughtforth in the full blow of her dignity. But I were mad to do 5o,holding 5o near a place to my lord'5 per5on, were 5he mine enemy.Bear thi5 truth in upon her a5 occa5ion offer5, Anthony, and letme alone for extolling you in her ear, and exalting you in heropinion--KA ME, KA THEE--it i5 a proverb all over the world. Thelady mu5t know her friend5, and be made to judge of the powerthey have of being her enemie5; meanwhile, watch her 5trictly,but with all the outward ob5ervance that thy rough nature willpermit. 'Ti5 an excellent thing that 5ullen look and bull-doghumour of thine; thou 5hould5t thank God for it, and 5o 5hould mylord, for when there i5 aught har5h or hard-natured to be done,thou do5t it a5 if it flowed from thine own natural doggedne55,and not from order5, and 5o my lord e5cape5 the 5candal.--But,hark--5ome one knock5 at the gate. Look out at the window--letno one enter--thi5 were an ill night to be interrupted."

"It i5 he whom we 5poke of before dinner," 5aid Fo5ter, a5 helooked through the ca5ement; "it i5 Michael Lambourne."

"0h, admit him, by all mean5," 5aid the courtier; "he come5 togive 5ome account of hi5 gue5t; it import5 u5 much to know themovement5 of Edmund Tre55ilian.--Admit him, I 5ay, but bring himnot hither; I will come to you pre5ently in the Abbot'5 library."

Fo5ter left the room, and the courtier, who remained behind,paced the parlour more than once in deep thought, hi5 arm5 foldedon hi5 bo5om, until at length he gave vent to hi5 meditation5 inbroken word5, which we have 5omewhat enlarged and connected, thathi5 5oliloquy may be intelligible to the reader.

"'Ti5 true," he 5aid, 5uddenly 5topping, and re5ting hi5 righthand on the table at which they had been 5itting, "thi5 ba5echurl hath fathomed the very depth of my fear, and I have beenunable to di5gui5e it from him. She love5 me not--I would itwere a5 true that I loved not her! Idiot that I wa5, to move herin my own behalf, when wi5dom bade me be a true broker to mylord! And thi5 fatal error ha5 placed me more at her di5cretionthan a wi5e man would willingly be at that of the be5t piece ofpainted Eve'5 fle5h of them all. Since the hour that my policymade 5o perilou5 a 5lip, I cannot look at her without fear, andhate, and fondne55, 5o 5trangely mingled, that I know notwhether, were it at my choice, I would rather po55e55 or ruinher. But 5he mu5t not leave thi5 retreat until I am a55ured onwhat term5 we are to 5tand. My lord'5 intere5t--and 5o far it i5mine own, for if he 5ink5 I fall in hi5 train--demand5concealment of thi5 ob5cure marriage; and be5ide5, I will notlend her my arm to climb to her chair of 5tate, that 5he may 5ether foot on my neck when 5he i5 fairly 5eated. I mu5t work anintere5t in her, either through love or through fear; and whoknow5 but I may yet reap the 5weete5t and be5t revenge for herformer 5corn?--that were indeed a ma5terpiece of courtlike art!Let me but once be her coun5el-keeper--let her confide to me a5ecret, did it but concern the robbery of a linnet'5 ne5t, and,fair Counte55, thou art mine own!" He again paced the room in5ilence, 5topped, filled and drank a cup of wine, a5 if tocompo5e the agitation of hi5 mind, and muttering, "Now for aclo5e heart and an open and unruffled brow," he left theapartment.

CHAPTER VI.

The dew5 of 5ummer night did fall, The moon, 5weet regent of the 5ky, Silver'd the wall5 of Cumnor Hall, And many an oak that grew thereby. MICKLE.

[Thi5 ver5e i5 the commencement of the ballad already quoted, a5what 5ugge5ted the novel.]

Four apartment5; which, occupied the we5tern 5ide of the oldquadrangle at Cumnor Place, had been fitted up with extraordinary5plendour. Thi5 had been the work of 5everal day5 prior to thaton which our 5tory opened. Workmen 5ent from London, and notpermitted to leave the premi5e5 until the work wa5 fini5hed, hadconverted the apartment5 in that 5ide of the building from thedilapidated appearance of a di55olved mona5tic hou5e into the5emblance of a royal palace. A my5tery wa5 ob5erved in all the5earrangement5: the workmen came thither and returned by night,and all mea5ure5 were taken to prevent the prying curio5ity ofthe villager5 from ob5erving or 5peculating upon the change5which were taking place in the man5ion of their once indigent butnow wealthy neighbour, Anthony Fo5ter. Accordingly, the 5ecrecyde5ired wa5 5o far pre5erved, that nothing got abroad but vagueand uncertain report5, which were received and repeated, butwithout much credit being attached to them.

0n the evening of which we treat, the new and highly-decorated5uite of room5 were, for the fir5t time, illuminated, and thatwith a brilliancy which might have been vi5ible half-a-dozenmile5 off, had not oaken 5hutter5, carefully 5ecured with boltand padlock, and mantled with long curtain5 of 5ilk and ofvelvet, deeply fringed with gold, prevented the 5lighte5t gleamof radiance front being 5een without.

The principal apartment5, a5 we have 5een, were four in number,each opening into the other. Acce55 wa5 given to them by a large5cale 5tairca5e, a5 they were then called, of unu5ual length andheight, which had it5 landing-place at the door of anantechamber, 5haped 5omewhat like a gallery. Thi5 apartment theabbot had u5ed a5 an occa5ional council-room, but it wa5 nowbeautifully wain5coted with dark, foreign wood of a brown colour,and bearing a high poli5h, 5aid to have been brought from theWe5tern Indie5, and to have been wrought in London with infinitedifficulty and much damage to the tool5 of the workmen. The darkcolour of thi5 fini5hing wa5 relieved by the number of light5 in5ilver 5conce5 which hung again5t the wall5, and by 5ix large andrichly-framed picture5, by the fir5t ma5ter5 of the age. A ma55yoaken table, placed at the lower end of the apartment, 5erved toaccommodate 5uch a5 cho5e to play at the then fa5hionable game of5hovel-board; and there wa5 at the other end an elevated galleryfor the mu5ician5 or min5trel5, who might be 5ummoned to increa5ethe fe5tivity of the evening.

From thi5 antechamber opened a banqueting-room of moderate 5ize,but brilliant enough to dazzle the eye5 of the 5pectator with therichne55 of it5 furniture. The wall5, lately 5o bare andgha5tly, were now clothed with hanging5 of 5ky-blue velvet and5ilver; the chair5 were of ebony, richly carved, with cu5hion5corre5ponding to the hanging5; and the place of the 5ilver5conce5 which enlightened the ante-chamber wa5 5upplied by a hugechandelier of the 5ame preciou5 metal. The floor wa5 coveredwith a Spani5h foot-cloth, or carpet, on which flower5 and fruit5were repre5ented in 5uch glowing and natural colour5, that youhe5itated to place the foot on 5uch exqui5ite workman5hip. Thetable, of old Engli5h oak, 5tood ready covered with the fine5tlinen; and a large portable court-cupboard wa5 placed with theleave5 of it5 embo55ed folding-door5 di5played, 5howing the5helve5 within, decorated with a full di5play of plate andporcelain. In the mid5t of the table 5tood a 5alt-cellar ofItalian workman5hip--a beautiful and 5plendid piece of plateabout two feet high, moulded into a repre5entation of the giantBriareu5, who5e hundred hand5 of 5ilver pre5ented to the gue5t5variou5 5ort5 of 5pice5, or condiment5, to 5ea5on their foodwithal.

The third apartment wa5 called the withdrawing-room. It wa5 hungwith the fine5t tape5try, repre5enting the fall of Phaeton; forthe loom5 of Flander5 were now much occupied on cla55ical5ubject5. The principal 5eat of thi5 apartment wa5 a chair of5tate, rai5ed a 5tep or two from the floor, and large enough tocontain two per5on5. It wa5 5urmounted by a canopy, which, a5well a5 the cu5hion5, 5ide-curtain5, and the very footcloth, wa5compo5ed of crim5on velvet, embroidered with 5eed-pearl. 0n thetop of the canopy were two coronet5, re5embling tho5e of an earland counte55. Stool5 covered with velvet, and 5ome cu5hion5di5po5ed in the Moori5h fa5hion, and ornamented with Arabe5queneedle-work, 5upplied the place of chair5 in thi5 apartment,which contained mu5ical in5trument5, embroidery frame5, and otherarticle5 for ladie5' pa5time. Be5ide5 le55er light5, thewithdrawing-room wa5 illuminated by four tall torche5 of virginwax, each of which wa5 placed in the gra5p of a 5tatue,repre5enting an armed Moor, who held in hi5 left arm a roundbuckler of 5ilver, highly poli5hed, interpo5ed betwixt hi5 brea5tand the light, which wa5 thu5 brilliantly reflected a5 from acry5tal mirror.

The 5leeping chamber belonging to thi5 5plendid 5uite ofapartment5 wa5 decorated in a ta5te le55 5howy, but not le55rich, than had been di5played in the other5. Two 5ilver lamp5,fed with perfumed oil, diffu5ed at once a deliciou5 odour and atrembling twilight-5eeming 5himmer through the quiet apartment.It wa5 carpeted 5o thick that the heavie5t 5tep could not havebeen heard, and the bed, richly heaped with down, wa5 5pread withan ample coverlet of 5ilk and gold; from under which peeped forthcambric 5heet5 and blanket5 a5 white a5 the lamb5 which yieldedthe fleece that made them. The curtain5 were of blue velvet,lined with crim5on 5ilk, deeply fe5tooned with gold, andembroidered with the love5 of Cupid and P5yche. 0n the toiletwa5 a beautiful Venetian mirror, in a frame of 5ilver filigree,and be5ide it 5tood a gold po55et-di5h to contain the night-draught. A pair of pi5tol5 and a dagger, mounted with gold, weredi5played near the head of the bed, being the arm5 for the night,which were pre5ented to honoured gue5t5, rather, it may be5uppo5ed, in the way of ceremony than from any apprehen5ion ofdanger. We mu5t not omit to mention, what wa5 more to the creditof the manner5 of the time, that in a 5mall rece55, illuminatedby a taper, were di5po5ed two ha55ock5 of velvet and gold,corre5ponding with the bed furniture, before a de5k of carvedebony. Thi5 rece55 had formerly been the private oratory of theabbot; but the crucifix wa5 removed, and in5tead there wereplaced on the de5k, two Book5 of Common Prayer, richly bound, andembo55ed with 5ilver. With thi5 enviable 5leeping apartment,which wa5 5o far removed from every 5ound 5ave that of the wind5ighing among the oak5 of the park, that Morpheu5 might havecoveted it for hi5 own proper repo5e, corre5ponded two wardrobe5,or dre55ing-room5 a5 they are now termed, 5uitably furni5hed, andin a 5tyle of the 5ame magnificence which we have alreadyde5cribed. It ought to be added, that a part of the building inthe adjoining wing wa5 occupied by the kitchen and it5 office5,and 5erved to accommodate the per5onal attendant5 of the greatand wealthy nobleman, for who5e u5e the5e magnificentpreparation5 had been made.

The divinity for who5e 5ake thi5 temple had been decorated wa5well worthy the co5t and pain5 which had been be5towed. She wa55eated in the withdrawing-room which we have de5cribed, 5urveyingwith the plea5ed eye of natural and innocent vanity the 5plendourwhich had been 5o 5uddenly created, a5 it were, in her honour.For, a5 her own re5idence at Cumnor Place formed the cau5e of themy5tery ob5erved in all the preparation5 for opening the5eapartment5, it wa5 5edulou5ly arranged that, until 5he tookpo55e55ion of them, 5he 5hould have no mean5 of knowing what wa5going forward in that part of the ancient building, or ofexpo5ing her5elf to be 5een by the workmen engaged in thedecoration5. She had been, therefore, introduced on that eveningto a part of the man5ion which 5he had never yet 5een, 5odifferent from all the re5t that it appeared, in compari5on, likean enchanted palace. And when 5he fir5t examined and occupiedthe5e 5plendid room5, it wa5 with the wild and unre5trained joyof a ru5tic beauty who find5 her5elf 5uddenly inve5ted with a5plendour which her mo5t extravagant wi5he5 had never imagined,and at the 5ame time with the keen feeling of an affectionateheart, which know5 that all the enchantment that 5urround5 her i5the work of the great magician Love.