The monastery; The abbot.

TiHE MONASTERY. 209
ment, and saw the mysterious Spirit, which waited upon the fortunes of her
house, standing in the moonlight in the midst of the room. The same
form, as the reader knows, had more than once offered itself to her sight;
and either her native boldness of mind, or some peculiarity attached to her
from her birth, made her now look upon it without shrinking. But the
White Lady of Avenel was now more distinctly visible, and more closely
present, than she had ever before seemed to be, and Mary was appalled by
her presence. She would, however, have spoken; but there ran a tradition,
that though others who had seen the White Lady had asked questions and
received answers, yet those of the house of Avenel who had ventured to
speak to her, had never long survived the colloquy. The figure, besides, as
sitting up in her bed, Mary Avenel gazed on it intently, seemed by its ges
lures to caution her to keep silence, and at the same time to bespeak atten
tion.
The White Lady then seemed to press one of the planks of the floor with
her foot, while, in her usual low, melancholy, and musical chant, she repeated the following verses:
"Maiden, whose sorrows wail the Living Dead,
Whose eyes shall commnune with the Dead Alive,
Maiden, attend! Beneath my foot lies hid
The Word, the Law, the Path, which thou dost strive
To find and canst not find.-Could spirits shed
Tears for their lot, it were mny lot to weep,
Showing the road which I shall never tread,
T'hough my foot points it.-Sleep, eternal sleep,
Dark, long, and cold forgetfulness mny lot!But do not thou at human ills repine,
Secure there lies full guerdon il this spot
For all the woes that wait frail Adam's lineStoop, then, and make it yours —I may not make it mine!"
The phantom stooped towards the floor as she concluded, as if with the
intention of laying her hand on the board on which she stood. But ere she
had completed that gesture, her form became indistinct, was presently only
like the shade of a fleecy cloud, which passed betwixt earth and the moon,
and was soon altogether invisible.
A strong impression of fear, the first which she had experienced in her
life to any agitating extent, seized upon the mind of Mary Avenel, and for
a minute she felt a disposition to faint. She repelled it, however, mustered
her courage, and addressed herself to saints and angels, as her church
recommended. Broken slumbers at length stole on her exhausted mind
and frame, and she slept until the dawn was about to rise, when she was
awakened by the cry of " Treason! treason! follow, follow!" which arose
in the tower, when it was found that Piercie Shafton had made his escape.
Apprehensive of some new misfortune, Mary Avenel hastily arranged
the dress which she had not laid aside, and, venturing to quit her chamber,
learned from Tibb, who, with her gray hairs dishevelled like those of a
sibyl, was flying from room to room, that the bloody Southron villain had
made his escape, and that IHalbert Glendinning, poor bairn, would sleep
unrevenged and unquiet in his bloody grave. In the lower apartments, the
young men were roaring like thunder, and venting in oaths and exclamations against the fugitives the rage which they experienced in finding themselves locked up within the tower, and debarred from their vindictive pursuit by the wily precautions of Mysie Happer. The authoritative voice of
the Sub-Prior commanding silence was next heard; upon which Mary
Avenel, whose tone of feeling did not lead her to enter into counsel or
society with the rest of the party, again retired to her solitary chamber.
The rest of the family held counsel in the spence, Edward almost beside
himself with rage, and the Sub-Prior in no small degree offended at the effron
tery of Mysie Happer in attempting such a scheme, as well as at the min
gled boldness and dexterity with which it had been executed. But neither
surprise nor anger availed aught. The windows, well secured with iron
bars for keeping assailants out, proved now as effectual for detaining the
VOL. V.-14 s2