maidens connected with those mysterious little beings, the fairies—perhaps pet daughters of the Fay-Queen herself—for they were as slightly and delicately fashioned as the lily-bell, and, like the lily, their dress was purest white. Garlands of holly and woodland honeysuckle wreathed their floating hair and slender waists.
The young man quickened his pace, and as he turned the wooded point, he once more caught sight of the fugitives, and also of the pretty village beyond. The two young girls were now walking, with each an arm around the other’s waist—as it is the fashion with maidens when they have no stronger arm to encircle them.
It was not long before the more rapid strides of the traveller brought him close to the side of the two. The simplicity of those early times rendered the ceremony of an introduction as useless, as it in reality should be, and the young people soon found themselves in the heart of a spirited conversation.
The traveller discovered the pretty maidens to be sisters, and daughters of the first landed proprietor of the village, and that their names were Annie and Irene Norwood.
In return for their artless and confidential conversation, the stranger entertained them with his adventure among the Indians—at which they duly shuddered, congratulating him on his escape—and also with many other marvels he had encountered during his travels. As they found themselves at the door of a “well-to-do-”looking mansion, Annie Norwood gaily remarked, “You have delighted us with your vivid and graphic descriptions, sir stranger, but you have not yet told us by what name we shall introduce our new friend to our dear parents.”
“Forgive my seeming want of frankness, but I could hardly find an opportunity of insinuating my name, especially before it was asked of me.”
“Ah!” laughingly said Annie, “that undoubtedly is meant to correct us for our glibness of tongue, in revealing unasked, not only our names, but all that concerns us, or ours, nearly as far back as the Norman conquest, for we can date our ancestors back quite to that period.”
