The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

674 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
with her in London. The Countess spoke not till the King asked her, and
then owned dryly, that she had necessarily some habitual means of intercourse with one who had been immediately about her person for soe many
years.
" I should think," said Charles, " that this same Master Peveril has the
more direct key to her language, after all we have heard."
The King looked first at Peveril, who blushed like a maiden at the inference which the King's remark implied, and then suddenly turned his eyes
on the supposed mute, on whose cheek a faint colour was dying away. A
moment afterwards, at a signal from the Countess, Fenella, or Zarah, stepped
forward, and having kissed her lady's hand, stood with her arms folded on
her breast, with a humble air, as different from that which she wore in the
harem of the Duke of Buckingham, as that of a Magdalene from a Judith.
Yet this was the least show of her talent of versatility, for so well did she
play the part of the dumb girl, that Buckingham, sharp as his discernment
was, remained undecided whether the creature which stood before him
could possibly be the same with her, who had, in a different dress, made
such an impression on his imagination, or indeed was the imperfect creature she now represented. She had at once all that could mark the imperfection of hearing, and all that could show the wonderful address by which
nature so often makes up for the deficiency. There was the lip that trembled
not at any sound-the seeming insensibility to the conversation that passed
around; while, on the other hand, was the quick and vivid glance, that
seemed anxious to devour the meaning of those sounds, which she could
gather no otherwise than by the motion of the lips.
Examined after her own fashion, Zarah confirmed the tale of Christian in
all its points, and admitted that she had deranged the project laid for a
mask, by placing the dwarf in her own stead; the cause of her doing so she
declined to assign, and the Countess pressed her no farther.
"Every thing tells to exculpate my Lord of Buckingham," said Charles,
" from so absurd an accusation: the dwarf's testimony is too fantastic, that
of the two Peverils does not in the least affect the Duke; that of the dumb
damsel completely contradicts the possibility of his guilt. Methinks, my
lords, we should acquaint him that he stands acquitted of a complaint, too
ridiculous to have been subjected to a more serious scrutiny than we have
hastily made upon this occasion."
Arlington bowed in acquiescence, but Ormond spoke plainly. —" I should
suffer, sire, in the opinion of the Duke of Buckingham, brilliant as his
talents are known to be, should I say that I am satisfied in my own mind
on this occasion. But I subscribe to the spirit of the times; and I agree it
would be highly dangerous, on such accusations as we have been able to
collect, to impeach the character of a zealous Protestant like his Grace -
Had he been a Catholic, under such circumstances of suspicion, the Tower
had been too good a prison for him."
Buckingham bowed to the Duke of Ormond, with a meaning which even
his triumph could not disguise.-" Tt me la pag]erai!" he muttered, in a
tone of deep and abiding resentment; but the stout old Irishman, who had
long since braved his utmost wrath, cared little for the expression of his
displeasure.
The King then, signing to the other nobles to pass into the public apartments, stopped Buckingham as he was about to follow them; and when they
were alone, asked, with a significant tone, which brought all the blood in
the Duke's veins into his countenance, "When was it, George, that your
useful friend Colonel Blood* became a musician?- You are silent," he
This person, who was capable of framing and carrying into execution the most desperate enterprises, was
one of those extraordllnary characters, who can only arise amid the bloodshed, confusion, destruction of morality, and wide-spreading violence, whichl take place during civil war. We cannot, perhaps, enter upon a
subject more extraordinaly or entertaining, than the history of this notorious desperado, who exhibited all the
elements of a most accomplished ruffian. As tlhe account of these adventures is scattered in various and