he describes the effect which intercourse with her has had upon Mary.
Halbert, on the morning of the duel between himself and Sir Piercie
Shafton, is trying to persuade her that he intends no harm, and that he
and Sir Piercie are going on a hunting expedition. "Say not thus," said
the maiden, interrupting him, "say not thus to me. Others thou may'st
deceive, but me thou can'st not. There has been that in me from the
earliest youth which fraud flies from, and which imposture cannot
deceive." The transforming influence of the Lady is here just what it
should be, and the consequence is that she becomes a reality.

But it is in the Bride of Lammermoor more particularly that the use of
the supernatural is not only blameless but indispensable. We begin to
rise to it in that scene in which the Master of Ravenswood meets Alice.
"Begone from among them," she says, "and if God has destined vengeance
on the oppressor's house, do not you be the instrument. . . . If you
remain here, her destruction or yours, or that of both, will be the
inevitable consequence of her misplaced attachment." A little further
on, with great art, Scott having duly prepared us by what has preceded,
adds intensity and colour. He apologises for the "tinge of
superstition," but, not believing, he evidently believes, and we justly
surrender ourselves to him. The Master of Ravenswood after the insult
received from Lady Ashton wanders round the Mermaiden's Well on his way
to Wolf's Crag and sees the wraith of Alice. Scott makes horse as well
as man afraid so that we may not immediately dismiss the apparition as a
mere ordinary product of excitement. Alice at that moment was dying,
and had "prayed powerfully that she might see her master's son and renew
her warning." Observe the difference between this and any vulgar ghost
story. From the very first we feel that the Superior Powers are against
this match, and that it will be cursed. The beginning of the curse lies
far back in the hereditary temper of the Ravenswoods, in the intrigues