dying man, mingling his blood with that of the expiring animal. Day
dawned, and when the red sun rose, it shone upon a corpse; the storm had
ceased, but the wind had blown the snow from off it, and the laborer who
found the body, rushed from the spot in terror at the horrible
expression of the dead man's face.




CHAPTER XI.

CONCLUSION.


Three years have passed away,--the young Earl has arrived at age, and is
coming to take possession of his domains--after finishing his education
at Oxford; great preparation has been made to welcome him. Foremost on
the occasion is Mrs. Alice Goodfellow, and as their Lord's reputed aunt
for so many years, she is a person of no small importance:--still
single, but beginning to think of settling now, as her glass gives
awkward reflections,--but still balancing the claims of her admirers,
though she does give color to the report of shewing a preference for the
sturdy blacksmith;--by her side, smartly dressed, are gamboling about
the young Johnsons, while their father, in a respectable suit of black,
marshals the somewhat unruly procession of maidens and youths chosen to
receive the young Earl. He is now the steward, (agent is a name he
wisely discards,) and a great man, but young girls and boys from sixteen
to twenty have a trick of paying no attention to the wisdom of their
elders, and he is sorely put to it to maintain order. Spring has planted
her fair feet upon the daisied green, and a huge May-Pole has been