Grisly Grisell

maids, the

viot un

g said that

young Har

e Reiver'

g half dressed at the deep-set window of the ch

ng as well as she could under the gr

ather. Did'st not hear the

ly my lord's horses

fast or taking a stirrup cup, like discourteous rogue

ne? And wherefor

ted and raved at him like a very sleuth-hound on the chase. And Leonard-what think'st thou he saith? "That he would as soon wed the loathly lady as thee," the cruel Som

y Madge, am I so very loa

t none should tell thee," respon

r or later! My mother, sh

if we do not bridle our heads, and if we make ourselves too friendly with the meiné, but she never frets nor rates

which had not occurred to her before in all her suffering. She returned again to entreat Margaret to tell her whether she was so foully ill-favoured that no one could look at her, and the dams

Madge-only bring me the little hand mi

t that I c

ce of one Ave," r

aunt woul

. Thou canst run into her chamber whe

must be

nk thee a slug-a-bed. Madge, dear Madge, prithee, I

ear of gold net, and long purple train, sweep down the stair, followed by her tirewomen and maidens of every degree. Then darting into the chamber, she bore away from a stage where lay the articles of the toilette, a little silver-backed and handled Venetian mirror, with beautiful tracery

expected, was hidden by bandages, but the other was fiery red, except that from the corner of the eye to the ear there was a purple scar; the upper lip was distorted, the hair, eyebrows, and lashes were all gon

Indeed she had probably forgotten that Grisell was far too tall to be made up into the bundle she intended; but she then declared that the wench might ride pillion behind old Diccon, and she would not be convinced till she was taken up to the sick chamber. There the first sound that greeted them was a choking agony of sobs and moans, while the tirewoman stood over the bed,

he approach of her mistress, nor indeed the first words of the Count

h she never should have touched. She must have run to your chamber whi

rn, "she must up-don her

shock of that glance in the mirror, followed by the maid's harsh reproaches, and fright at the arrival of the two ladies, had brought on a choking, hysterical sort of convulsive fit, and the po

me never tell her how her poor face looked, and when she begged and prayed me, I

tell thy beads, child; thou hast done much scathe unwittingly! Ah,

arber-surgeon, who advanced to the bed, and felt the p

bled the already almost unconscious child, till she fainted and was laid down again on her pillows, under the keeping of Maudlin,

en on a journey, and her mother went grumbling down

y, though perhaps hardly willingly, invited her

both my lord and myself have our backs turned, and my lad bairns-worth a dozen of yon whining maid-should no longer be left to

was not such an agreeable one as to make him anxious to press her stay beyond what hospitality demanded, and his wife

ed, not too graciously, when the Countess promised to tend the child like her own, and send her by and by to Whitburn under a saf

as restless to depart, so as

eads formed a great part, so that she lay, breathing heavily, in a deep sleep, moaning now and then. Her mother did not scruple to try to rouse her with calls of "Grizzy! Look up, wench

les I have given him, he should have let my poor maid be so mauled and marred, and then forsaken by the rascal who did it, so that she will never be aught but a dead weight on my two

he was very little more enlightened in her ideas of what would please the Saints, or what they could do for her, than were the o