Chapter XI.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 60, 11 March 1871, Page 4

Chapter XI.

PEACE. When Nelly had told Sir Hugh in her own simple way all the terrible events which her father had recounted the day before, a great chauge came over the young Crusader. His eyes were still fixed on her with a wild, worshipping expression, but he did not speak. To him his mother had always been an object of reverence rather than of love. Her haughty spirit, icy manner, and the stern formality of her daily existence had impressed him with awe and respect. He could remember times when alone in his presence she had thrown aside the stiff ceremonial of her life and embraced him with the ardour of a fond mother; but he had always shrunk from the strange raphsodies of those moments. He was unaccustomed to the light of a parent's earnest affection, and he was dazzled and surprised when it was poured suddenly upon him. His mother — the central figure in the great picture of his past, was deprived for ever of all the majesty and dignity with which he had mentally endowed her. It was difficult to realise the terrible truth that Nelly had so innocently divulged; it was impossible to tear away instantly every tender chord of memory, woven from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood. The pride of his house, the noble deeds of his father, and the brilliant records of the Hughs of olden days were the sources of his earliest inspiration — an inspiration to which he owed his chivalric virtues and his ideas of duty. The house of his brave father was now humbled, the stream of his nobility wa^ polluted, and his mother was the guilty creature who had brought this blot of shame and disgrace on the fair escutcheon of the Hughs. These were the thoughts rushing through h's brain as he gazed into the blue depths of Nelly's eyes. But the torture which these thoughts would have inflicted on his fiery and impatient nature was lessened by the new world that beamed on him through those eloquent and mystic orbs. A new impulse had seized his soul, and he was ready to fling away the past with all its recollections, to fling away the halfrealised dreams of his youthful ambition, and to give himself up, a slave, a fanatic worshipper of the lovely girl who sat there unconscious of her influence, and all absorbed in the thought of screening her father. "I fear I have done wrong, Sir Hugh, to pain you with this dreadful narrative." "No- — no — you have done no wrong. It is better that I should know all now than go my way presuming ou the honor of my name while it is foully stained by the crimes of a cruel parent. Bring your father hither. Let me look into his face. Let me read there the sorrow and anger of his life. Was your mother like yourself ?" "I have often heard my father say that I resembled her," replied Nelly. "O horrible deed! Haste and bring him here. I must see him at once. Pray delay not." Uncertain what to' do, Nelly rose and looked at Broadhart. •'Go, my daughter," said Broadhart, turning from the window. "It will be well to calm for ever the just wrath which has oppressed your father all these years, and it will be well for Sir Hugh to make his peace with one who has suffered so severely from the persecution of the House of Danedred. Peace is wisdom. - Wrath is folly. Peace is mighty, wrath is weak. Peace ha 3 the armies of

Heaven in its cause. Anger turns its weapons against itself." Nelly waited no further inducement to comply with Sir Hugh's request. j3ue threw back her long golden hair aud LurWed forth eager to bring about the interview. Her powerful imagination had magnified the danger in which her father had placed himself by the violent outrage. She had even mentally depicted a crowd of infuriated people dragging her father through the streets — dragging him to a violent death — and she had dwelt on the dreadful scene till her blood was chilled with horror and anguish. She found her father closeted with Armstrong — very much as she had found him on the morning of her return from Hounds- . ditch. They were talking very earnestly, but with evident ill-feeling. Nelly hurried into the room so eagerly that both were startled by her sudden appearance. Armstrong made an attempt to get rid of the malicious scowl which clouded his face, like a thief trying hurriedly to conceal the stolen property. Fitz-Osbert turned quickly round with a look of surprise. "What is the matter, Nelly?" lie said, perceiving that she looked surprised, and did not speak. ''Anything wrong?" t "Nothing wrong, father; but I have' an important message for you, which " She looked at Armstrong as she spoke, hoping that he would take the hint and leave her alone with her father. But Armstrong, notwithstanding his extreme nervousness, possessed a large amount of conceit, and whenever Nelly looked at him he always implicitly believed that the look was one of admiration. " I will wait till you are alone, father," she continued modestly. The bulky armourer woke up to a sense of his position, and began to think now that his presence might be conveniently dispensed with. Accordingly, his ponderous form slowly rose from the bench and moved towards the door. Suddenly he bethought him that the opportunity was not to be lost, and with a desperate effort of moral courage, he turned round by the door and addressed Nelly. "I leave you alone, Mistress Nelly, to speak your message. I have something to say to you when you are alone." "I do not quite understand you," said Nelly, who failed to hear the latter part of his speech, that part being hurried over by the armourer with alarm at his own audacity. "1 merely said — I — I — will — Mistress Nelly — I'll look in some other time." The burly fellow blushed a deep crimson, and, stumbling out into Cheapside, hurried along as if he were endeavouring to run away from himself. When he had gone, Nelly told her father Sir* Hugh's desire to see him, and easily persuaded him to accompany her. '' i To be continued.