LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 456, 30 November 1875, Page 4

LITERATURE.

THE WITCH THORN. Continued, Suddenly she perceived a figure moving rapidly under their shadow, a slight female figure. Who could be out at so late an hour? Annie knew that the house had been shut up, and the door locked and bolted, full an hour ago. Besides, this was not one of the servants; no, she knew that slender form well, and smooth, gliding walk, could even discern the dress, though half concealed by a dark cloak. It was Miriam—she reached the gate, drew back the heavy bolts with some difficulty, apparently, and then ran swiftly along the road, taking the direction of a certain glen among the wildest part of the mountains, known by the appellation of the Black Glen. A lonely spot even in the day time, and shunned by all the country people as haunted. In the centre of it were the ruins of an old monastery, and beside them a blighted witch-thorn. Towards this ill-omened valley, then, Miriam hastened. Annie watched her approach its dark entrance, where the moonlight, shaded off by black cliffs, seemed to shrink away. Then her figure disappeared. A superstitious feeling shot through Annie's heart. Despite her education, and the enlightenment of the age, she would not have gone to that glen alone, and at such an hour, for worlds. What could Miriam want there ? Annie remained at the window, lost in amazement and conjecture, to see if Miriam would soon return. But more than an hour passed before her vigilence was rewarded, and she beheld the slight, dark figure appear on the road below. The night had then become somewhat cloudy, but there was still light enough for her to observe Miriam glide past the front door of the house to the window of the dining room, which was but slightly raised from the ground. She saw her stealthily open it, after a rapid glance round, and a moment's pause, as if to ascertain that she was unseen. Then, springing through, she disappeared from view. Chapter 111. THE WARNING. The day for the marriage of Miriam and Owen was fixed. The consent of Miriam's father had been obtained, and it now wanted but three weeks to the time. But though all went according to his wishes, Owen Gerard was not quite happy. The thought of Annie sometimes intruded itself, and though he tried to convince himself that there had been nothing but sisterly love for him on her side, such reasoning was only surface deep, and beneath it he felt that she loved him, and he had not treated her well. Nor even as regarded his affianced bride, did he feel altogether satisfied. Though he loved her devotedly, and with a. love more passionate and romantic, moyo thoroughly absorbing than he had ever given to Annie, he knew that he did not fully comprehend her, and at times felt as if there were some vast distance between them, a distance which could never be overstepped. The thought of ordinary domestic life with her, seemed very strange. The very intensity of her love, amounting almost to an agony, discpiieted him, and sent a strange thrill, half of awe,- through his heart. How different it was from the serene daylight of Annie's love, in which he had ever Invoked with, unclouded spirit. Shadows and twilight seemed to surround Miriam on every side. To be continued.