Chapter VII.—Continued. THE WHITE WANDERER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 86, 19 December 1874, Page 13

Chapter Vll.—Continued. THE WHITE WANDERER.

« IHBT come ! they come! she cried. "Oh, save me! save me from them both ! From Oswald, who in the dim hours of the ni«-ht alluded we from the safe shelter of your halls, with the voice 2nd aspect that are so like his brother's. Save me from him— from Oswald— the husband whom I wedded to maintain my fair renute Save me yet more. Hide me, hide me from Eandolf, my betrothed! whom I loved ! He will call me traitress ! And oh, had I loved him less—had I refused, my lord, to defy your authority—had— had I not consented secretly to wed him— the barbarous Oswald had never so betrayed us both! Oh, forgive me. Lord Thurston and save me from both yoxir sons I" As the unhappy damsel in broken sentences gasped forth these direful words, she shook as with convulsions ; and Lord Thurston by the advice of the abbot, carried her into the ground-floor chamber of the bell-tower. . ° "•*"** uvul Still the beat of hoofs was heard approaching nearer— nearer • and even as Lord Thurston laid the almost expiring form o^the damsel on an oaken bench, the rider drew the bridle of his panting steed beneath the fetted atch, and, vaulting from the saddle Oswald de Coniston rudely thrust bis way through the <wap of monks and attendants, and, m a voice fierce and determined demanded that his biide, his wife, should be yielded to his marital authority. "Wretch !" exclaimed the Earl, » for whose fraud and viUanv a father's tougue can find no name. Darest thou, in the present of the reverend abbot, attempt to enforce a claim which*K!£mselsi pre-contract with your brother will destroy? The Lady Evelina, is under my charge, and I will protect her till that divorS is procured which, I doubt not, my Lord Abbot's representations will induce our holy Father the Pope to grant J" «»ww*raons "By Saint Mary of Furness!'' answered Oswald, with a manner so truculent it would not have misbecome Randolf himself « the damsel is my wife till the divorce shall come " wmselr, "Oh, cru&, treacherous Oswald V said Evelina, fixing her eyes upon the youth. « Our marriage shall be as brief as it las miserdivorce Son^ UUP tOrCh>

This sword shall soon quit thy most abhorred bonds 1" cried a furious voice, as Kandolf de Coniston burst like a thunderbolt on the astonished group. « Traitor !" he cried, " was it to vaunt tay triumph over me thou didst commission the false slave, Joslyn, to liberate me to-night j it was rather that thy false heart's blood should stain this sword !"

In the confusion and horror of Oswald's own appearance, none of the persons assembled in the bell-tower had noticed how the tramp of a second horse had followed close upon the first. Oswald himself, transfixed by the dying aspect of his stolen bride, heeded a^ffaa^'ssp tm the **" *"**»* »»* linjnd^lrpauf hands Zf&S^** "" ** Ott A , dull S* 6 / shadow was falling on the damsel's face, she seemed unconscious now of what was passing round her. fi W if w ? T d monks i Lord Thu *ston and his retainers, stood in awed silence: even the savage Kandolf, though, for the first time in his Me, he was injured, instead of the mjml, dropped .his ford's point, and stood gazing on Evelina, silenAs theSST ™™ m Evelma , ! Evelina !" wailed the wretched Oswald, « look up once more, pity me, pardon me, before you die. I loved you, Evehna, to am and madness loved you. For you, for you, my innocent lamb, my precious Walter died. Then hatred mingled withmy love, and I swore m vengeance I would steal you from my brother. But, oh, Evelina, wouldst thou live, we might be happy yet -for l love you for your own sweet self, but my reptile brother loves only the heiress of Egremont ! Evelina, sweet wife, look up and pardo J «. J I STS' **&& Evelina ' w » Kandolf loved my fortune SfflFfhi+^s? iloV6d*?i loV6d *? Only - B ttay be tbat thou *** merit better, that thy love was truer and purer than his ; but thy love unwished-for and ill bestowed, hath* slain me. Yet do I foS thee, lord and husband, as it is a wife's duty to forgive. NowS Soke?' emy T^^dthatfettereditStoei B b?ok?n^ At this injunction, in very awe of the fixed, sad, stern eyes of Una'lw involuntarily loosed his clasp of EveAiT fli ***?£ as if it were lead, from his grasp, a dull film obscured the stem eyes. Evelina was dead J P