"Not a bit, my dear Isabella," said Lucy. "Consider, your father, though
present in the unhappy affray, is never supposed to have struck the
fatal blow; besides, in former times, in case of mutual slaughter
between clans, subsequent alliances were so far from being excluded,
that the hand of a daughter or a sister was the most frequent gage of
reconciliation. You laugh at my skill in romance; but, I assure you,
should your history be written, like that of many a less distressed and
less deserving heroine, the well-judging reader would set you down for
the lady and the love of Earnscliff; from the very obstacle which you
suppose so insurmountable."

"But these are not the days of romance, but of sad reality, for there
stands the castle of Ellieslaw."

"And there stands Sir Frederick Langley at the gate, waiting to assist
the ladies from their palfreys. I would as lief touch a toad; I will
disappoint him, and take old Horsington the groom for my master of the
horse."

So saying, the lively young lady switched her palfrey forward, and
passing Sir Frederick with a familiar nod as he stood ready to take
her horse's rein, she cantered on, and jumped into the arms of the old
groom. Fain would Isabella have done the same had she dared; but her
father stood near, displeasure already darkening on a countenance
peculiarly qualified to express the harsher passions, and she was
compelled to receive the unwelcome assiduities of her detested suitor.



CHAPTER VI.