Heiress of Haddon

rit brooding o

he record of

plendour of the

one, whose g

e's dream ha

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liberate the

that love not

RL

there rises, in a lovely dale slyly peeping out from behi

ld mansion. Its turrets and towers, its windows and its walls, its capacious kitchens, and its fine halls and banqueting rooms-unspoiled by

swayed to and fro while many a baron has ruled the Hall, and whose leaves after growing in superlative beauty, seeming to partake in the grandeur and pride of the "King of the Peak," have dro

Peveril, said to be a son of the Conqueror, and to him, in common with many other estates in and around Derbyshire, was given the manor of Haddon. Part of the fabric which was then erected is still standing, and it is surmised by some that trace

venals to the Vernons by marriage, so again, three centuries later, by a similar process, it pa

est. Everything seems to breathe out the spirit of departed ag

of fact the baron of Haddon was a king within his own domain, who wielded a power which few around dared to question, and fewer still resist. Its hospitality was lavish, as the poor of a n

f chivalrous knights, each striving to outdo the others by gentle acts of courtesy! What brilliant cavalcades have issued from its portals! How many merry hunting partie

pursue their sport by submitting to a more than usual amount of inconvenience, yet the ladies had been almost entirely confined within the limits of the Hall. Winter at Haddon was by no means a dreary imprisonment, for fetes and balls were continually taking place, and however rough the weather might be, and the condition of the miserable tracts which in those days did duty for roads, there

e "King of the Peak" himself, and the old knight, owner as he was of immense wealth, wa

and some gossips even went so far as to say that she had already plighted her troth to him. The younger sister, however, had kept her heart intact, and in s

anticipating the time when they might once more pursue their noble sports. As the winter had gradually withdrawn its ice and snow, and occasional gleams of sunshine appeared, hearalding

augmented by fresh arrivals, and as the jovial baron looked round the table at the feast o

sses, riding on horseback, were gracefully coquetting with the knights and squires who surrounded

floods, with a pleasing elasticity. The sun shone brilliantly upon the gold-trimmed jerkins of the hawks, and the hum of conversation, with its occasional outburst of merry ringing laughter, added to the tinkling o

h of whom was anxious to bring himself under her especial notice by a

uous in his attentions, and although it was plainly visible that his pres

hardly so sprightly this morning as the occasio

hou art for ever placing me beside my sister Margaret. He be

ted at the opportunity thus afforded him of paying back a grudge of long standing, he summoned to his aid all the dig

at the old man, but as the latter was yet r

ould have thee smile upon me and not frown; and if my words have not been pleasing to t

cing his last remark. "We are full late for the

med Sir Benedict à Woode, who had been anxiously a

ht thou wert too unwell to join us to-day,

hen I knew thou wert among the merry co

into his head, Dorothy

lf had trained, upon her wrist, which was protected from the beak and talons of the bir

, though, or else, I fear, most noble Benedict

a most befitting manner, and catching sight of a hand upon the saddle, it r

Zouch, and he withdrew wi

ay the bird was but imperfectly taught, and now see h

athy, she burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, in which the rest of the company joined; an

ard, for they learned by the blowing of the horns and signals of Sir G

g for you; we are ready to begin, and there are

, Sir Everard Crowleigh, had soon passed through the pleasant formality of

, an unresisting captive, to yield his heart to the keeping of the maid. He was deeply smitten, nor was Dorothy herself insensible to the more masculine beauty of the scion of the house of Rutland, for as his dark, flashing eyes met her own, in

e of love at