"I like this spot," said Lucy at length, as if she had found the silence embarrassing; "the bubbling murmur of the clear fountain, the waving of the trees, the pro- fusion of grass and wild-flowers, that rise among the ruins, make it like a scene in romance. I think, too, I have heard it is a spot connected with the legendary lore which I love so well."
"It has been thought," answered Ravenswood, "a fatal spot to our family, and I have some reason to term it so, for it was here I first saw Miss Ashton—and it is here I must take my leave of her for ever."
The blood, which the first part of this speech called into Lucy's cheeks, was speedily expelled by its conclusion.
"To take leave of us, Master!" she exclaimed; "what can have happened to hurry you away?—I know Alice hates—I mean dislikes my father—and I hardly understood her humour to-day, it was so mysterious. But I am certain my father is
