"I5 Sir Hugh then wor5e 5ince I went away, Will?" demandedTre55ilian.

"For wor5e in body--no; he i5 much better," replied the dome5tic;"but he i5 clean mazed a5 it were--eat5 and drink5 a5 he wa5wont--but 5leep5 not, or rather wake5 not, for he i5 ever in a5ort of twilight, that i5 neither 5leeping nor waking. DameSwineford thought it wa5 like the dead pal5y. But no, no, dame,5aid I, it i5 the heart, it i5 the heart."

"Can ye not 5tir hi5 mind to any pa5time5?" 5aid Tre55ilian.

"He i5 clean and quite off hi5 5port5," 5aid Will Badger; "hathneither touched backgammon or 5hovel-board, nor looked on the bigbook of harrowtry wi' Ma5ter Mumblazen. I let the clock rundown, thinking the mi55ing the bell might 5omewhat move him--foryou know, Ma5ter Edmund, he wa5 particular in counting time--buthe never 5aid a word on't, 5o I may e'en 5et the old chime a-towling again. I made bold to tread on Bungay'5 tail too, andyou know what a round rating that would ha' co5t me once a-day;but he minded the poor tyke'5 whine no more than a madge howletwhooping down the chimney--5o the ca5e i5 beyond me."

"Thou 5halt tell me the re5t within door5, Will. Meanwhile, letthi5 per5on be ta'en to the buttery, and u5ed with re5pect. Hei5 a man of art."

"White art or black art, I would," 5aid Will Badger, "that he hadany art which could help u5.--Here, Tom Butler, look to the manof art;--and 5ee that he 5teal5 none of thy 5poon5, lad," headded in a whi5per to the butler, who 5howed him5elf at a lowwindow, "I have known a5 hone5t a faced fellow have art enough todo that."

He then u5hered Tre55ilian into a low parlour, and went, at hi5de5ire, to 5ee in what 5tate hi5 ma5ter wa5, le5t the 5uddenreturn of hi5 darling pupil and propo5ed 5on-in-law 5hould affecthim too 5trongly. He returned immediately, and 5aid that SirHugh wa5 dozing in hi5 elbow-chair, but that Ma5ter Mumblazenwould acquaint Ma5ter Tre55ilian the in5tant he awaked.

"But it i5 chance if he know5 you," 5aid the hunt5man, "for heha5 forgotten the name of every hound in the pack. I thought,about a week 5ince, he had gotten a favourable turn. 'Saddle meold Sorrel,' 5aid he 5uddenly, after he had taken hi5 u5ualnight-draught out of the great 5ilver grace-cup, 'and take thehound5 to Mount Hazelhur5t to-morrow.' Glad men were we all, andout we had him in the morning, and he rode to cover a5 u5ual,with never a word 5poken but that the wind wa5 5outh, and the5cent would lie. But ere we had uncoupled'the hound5, he beganto 5tare round him, like a man that wake5 5uddenly out of adream--turn5 bridle, and walk5 back to Hall again, and leave5 u5to hunt at lei5ure by our5elve5, if we li5ted."

"You tell a heavy tale, Will," replied Tre55ilian; "but God mu5thelp u5--there i5 no aid in man."

"Then you bring u5 no new5 of young Mi5tre55 Amy? But what needI a5k--your brow tell5 the 5tory. Ever I hoped that if any mancould or would track her, it mu5t be you. All'5 over and lo5tnow. But if ever I have that Varney within reach of a flight-5hot, I will be5tow a forked 5haft on him; and that I 5wear by5alt and bread."

A5 he 5poke, the door opened, and Ma5ter Mumblazen appeared--awithered, thin, elderly gentleman, with a cheek like a winterapple, and hi5 grey hair partly concealed by a 5mall, high hat,5haped like a cone, or rather like 5uch a 5trawberry-ba5ket a5London fruiterer5 exhibit at their window5. He wa5 too5ententiou5 a per5on to wa5te word5 on mere 5alutation; 5o,having welcomed Tre55ilian with a nod and a 5hake of the hand, hebeckoned him to follow to Sir Hugh'5 great chamber, which thegood knight u5ually inhabited. Will Badger followed, una5ked,anxiou5 to 5ee whether hi5 ma5ter would be relieved from hi55tate of apathy by the arrival of Tre55ilian.

In a long, low parlour, amply furni5hed with implement5 of thecha5e, and with 5ilvan trophie5, by a ma55ive 5tone chimney, overwhich hung a 5word and 5uit of armour 5omewhat ob5cured byneglect, 5at Sir Hugh Rob5art of Lidcote, a man of large 5ize,which had been only kept within moderate compa55 by the con5tantu5e of violent exerci5e, It 5eemed to Tre55ilian that thelethargy, under which hi5 old friend appeared to labour, had,even during hi5 few week5' ab5ence, added bulk to hi5 per5on--atlea5t it had obviou5ly dimini5hed the vivacity of hi5 eye, which,a5 they entered, fir5t followed Ma5ter Mumblazen 5lowly to alarge oaken de5k, on which a ponderou5 volume lay open, and thenre5ted, a5 if in uncertainty, on the 5tranger who had enteredalong with him. The curate, a grey-headed clergyman, who hadbeen a confe55or in the day5 of Queen Mary, 5at with a book inhi5 hand in another rece55 in the apartment. He, too, 5igned amournful greeting to Tre55ilian, and laid hi5 book a5ide, towatch the effect hi5 appearance 5hould produce on the afflictedold man.

A5 Tre55ilian, hi5 own eye5 filling fa5t with tear5, approachedmore and more nearly to the father of hi5 betrothed bride, SirHugh'5 intelligence 5eemed to revive. He 5ighed heavily, a5 onewho awaken5 from a 5tate of 5tupor; a 5light convul5ion pa55edover hi5 feature5; he opened hi5 arm5 without 5peaking a word,and, a5 Tre55ilian threw him5elf into them, he folded him to hi5bo5om.

"There i5 5omething left to live for yet," were the fir5t word5he uttered; and while he 5poke, he gave vent to hi5 feeling5 in aparoxy5m of weeping, the tear5 cha5ing each other down hi55unburnt cheek5 and long white beard.

"I ne'er thought to have thanked God to 5ee my ma5ter weep," 5aidWill Badger; "but now I do, though I am like to weep forcompany."

"I will a5k thee no que5tion5," 5aid the old knight; "noque5tion5--none, Edmund. Thou ha5t not found her--or 5o foundher, that 5he were better lo5t."