mine oyster, which I

ENT

s les Tours, whose dark and multiplied battlements rose in the background over the extensive forest with which they were surrounded. These woodlands comprised a noble chase, or royal park, fenced by an enclosure, termed, in the Latin of the middle ages, Plexitium, which gives the name of Plessis to so m

, two men, who appeared in deep conversation, seemed, from time to time, to watch his motions;

was already recognized as the Scottish head gear. His dress was very neat, and arranged with the precision of a youth conscious of possessing a fine person. He had at his back a satchel, which seemed to contain a few necessaries, a hawking gauntlet on his left hand, though he carried no bird, and in his right a stout hunter's pole. Over his left shoulder hung an embroid

wed that his pedestrian mode of travelling was pleasure rather than pain to him. His complexion was fair, in spite of a general shade of da

nimal spirits, showed now and then that his teeth were well set, and as pure as ivory; whilst his bright blue eye, with a corresponding gai

ot answered with as martial, though a less sullen tone. The wandering pilgrim, or the begging friar, answered his reverent greeting with a paternal benedicite [equivalent to the English expression, "Bless you."]; and the dark eyed peasant girl looked after him for many a step after they had passed each other, and interchanged a laughing good morrow. In short, there was an attraction about his whole appearance not easily escaping attention, and which was derived from the combin

e park and the castle; but as he descended the rugged bank to the water's edge, with the light step of a roe which visits the fountain, the younger of t

olete)]," said the elder personage; "it may, perchance, save a rope and break a pr

r, "for I cannot see his face. Hark, sir; he

in this world," answered

eed, entered the stream without farther hesitation than the delay necessary to take off his buskins. The elder person, at the same moment, hallooe

ofit by it, being already in the deep stream. To one less alert and practised in the

ssip, and help your blunder, by giving him aid, if thou canst. He belon

es so well, that, notwithstanding the strength of the current, he

"I knew water would never drown that young fellow.-By my halidome [originally something regarded as sacred, as a relic; formerly much used in solemn oaths], he is ashore, and grasp

o was hastening to his assistance, with these ireful words: "Discourteous dog! why did you not answer when I called to know if the p

motion. His opponent, seeing himself thus menaced, laid hand upon his sword, for he was one of those who on all occasions are more ready for action than for speech; but his more considerate comrade, who came up, co

d be sorry if he had done them injustice; but, in reality, it appeared to him as if they had suffered him to put his life in peril for want of a word

complexion, a stranger; and you should recollect your dialect is no

ill readily forgive your being partly the cause, provided you will direct me to some place wh

r son?" said the elder strang

youth; "or-hold; you, master, may be a money broker, o

re somewhat of kin to the butcher's. As to your accommodation we will try to serve you; but I must first know who you are, and whither you are goin

on his silent companion, as if doubtful whether they, on their part, merited

but worn so threadbare that the acute young Scot conceived that the wearer must be either very rich or very poor, probably the former. The fashion of the dress was close and short,

them that was at once commanding and sinister. Perhaps this effect was increased by the low fur cap, much depressed on the forehead, and adding to the shade from under which those eyes peered out; but it is certain that the young stranger had some difficulty to reconcile his looks with the meanness of his appearance in other respects. His c

man observed that he concealed a jazeran, or flexible shirt of linked mail, which, as being often worn by those, even of peaceful professions, who were called upon at that perilous period to be frequently abroad, confirmed the young man in his conjecture that the wearer was by profession a butcher, grazier, or something of that description, called upon to be much abroad. The young stranger

nd at the right age to prosper, whether among men or women. What say you? I am a merchant, and want a la

h I have my doubts-I am bound to thank you for it, and I thank you a

er how to draw the bow, than how to draw a bill of ch

as we say, a bowman. But besides that, I have been in a convent, whe

un [a town in France containing a cathedral in which was a wooden statue of the

pleased with his new acquaintance's jocularity, "I must go dry

of a country I have a regard for, having traded in Scotland in my time-an honest poor set of folks they are; and, if you will come with us to the village, I will bestow on you a cup of

y the falcon I had brought with me from Scotland, and that I reckoned on for bringing me into some note, at a

u do?" said

"as near to death as one Christian man should belabou

fallen into the Duke of Burgundy's hands,

as this happened near Peronne, I made a leap over the frontiers, and laughed at

erchant, and threw a look at his own companion, who answered him with one of the downcast lowering

wiser, you will find, I presume, no sound or safe jesting at my expense. I do not altogether like the tone of your conversation. I can take a jest with any man, and a rebuke, too, from my elder, an

tole to his sword hilt, which the youth observing, dealt him a blow across the wrist, which mad

he wetting against the knock on the wrist, which was given with so much grace and alacrity.-And hark ye, my young friend," he said to the young man, with a grave sternness which, i

atience with mockery. Since I have been here in France and Flanders, men have called me, in their fantasy, the Varlet with

e querist; "is it

the young man; "and that makes me reluct

said to his companion, "go before us, and tell them to have some breakfast ready yonder at the Mulberry grove; for thi

ued, addressing young Durward, "You and I will walk leisurely forward together, and we may take a mass at Saint Hub

gaged in this pastime, a stag appeared before him, having a crucifix bound betwixt his horns, and he heard a voice which menaced him with eternal p

le, they soon lost sight of their downward looking companion, but continued to follow the same path which he had taken, until it led them into a wood of tall trees, mixed with thickets and brushwoo

oung Scot. "Give me a bow and a brace of shafts, a

care of that; my gossip yonder hath a special eye to the

answered Durward. "I cannot think yon hang dog look of his

somewhat an ugly favour to look upon at the first; but those wh

the slight smile that curled his upper lip, and the accompanying twinkle of his keen dark eye, something to justify his unpleasing surprise. "I have heard of robbers," he thought to hims

ecluded spot were chiefly beeches and elms of huge magnitude, which rose like great hills of leaves into the air. Amidst these magnificent sons of the earth there peeped out, in the most open spot of the glade, a lowly chapel, near which trickled a small rivulet. Its architecture was of the rudest and most simple kind; and there was a very small lodge beside it, for the accommodation of a hermit

eding from his cell to the chapel, for the discharge, doubtless, of his holy office. Durward bowed his body reverently to the priest, as the respect due to his sacred office demanded; whilst his companion, with a

d elsewhere, and the characteristic emblazonments of bugles, bows, quivers, and other emblems of hunting, surrounded the walls, and were mingled with the heads of deer, wolves, and other animals considered beasts of sport. The whole adornments took an appropriate and

ith religious thoughts, could not forbear blaming himself in his own mind for having entertained suspicions derogatory to the character of so good and

said to his young comrade, "It is but a short walk from hence to the villa

mended to his companion by no means to quit the track, but, on the contrary, to keep the mid

hich we now occupy, is rendered dangerous, and well nigh impracticable, by snares and traps, armed with scythe blades, which shred off the unwary passenger's limb as sheerly as a hedge bill lops a hawthorn sprig-an

but would try instead to govern so well that no man should dare to come near my dwelling with a bad inte

lvet Pouch! for I forgot to tell you, that one great danger of these precincts is, that the very le

ld enough to speak my mind to King Louis's face, God bless him-and for the ears you talk of,