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RAYMOND CASTLE.
33

hopes of conqueſt that ſire a ſoldier’s breaſt, I will meet thee at the appointed hour.”

A hollow groan ſucceeded, accompanied with a loud and thundering noiſe, that ſhook the very foundation of the caſtle.

When the noiſe had ceaſed, Glanville falling on his knees, ſolicited from heaven fortitude and courage to meet the horrors of the approaching night; and then taking from the table his ſword, together with the caſket that contained the miniature of the late baron, he deſcended the ſame flight of ſteps which had conducted him to the apartment where he had patted the night; and having recroſſed the moat, aſcended a neighbouring hill, on the brow of which he perceived a miſerable hut. The tenants of this clay-built tenement received him with hoſpitality, and offered him ſuch refreshment as their hovel afforded, which, poor and humble as it was, proved very acceptable to Glanville, who had not taſted food from the time he left his father’s houſe.

From the door of this cottage the turrets of the abandoned caſtle were ſeen juſt peeping above the ſurrounding trees; and Glanville, whoſe thoughts were wholly occupied in reflecting on the occurrences of the preceding evening, and in anticipating thoſe events which the womb of futurity laboured to bring forth, anxiouſly queſtioned his hoſts on the ſubject of the building being deſerted by its owner, and left to moulder and decay. From theſe he learned the name of the caſtle, and the circumſtance which had determined lord Raymond to leave it; but of the former baron they poſſessed not the leaſt knowledge.

The agitation of his mind received no relief from this information; and having thanked theſe cottagers for the repaſt they had afforded him, he bade them good day, and directed his way toward the foreſt, in which he intended to paſs the remainder of the time between, the preſent and the hour that was to lead him to the caſtle.

When he had reached the thickeſt part of the wood he threw himſelf on the graſs; and drawing the mi-