He laboured to restrain his
desire to speak, while the stranger, to all appearance, was at a loss
for words to express what he felt necessary to say.
At length Ravenswood's impatience broke the bounds he had imposed upon
it. "I perceive," he said, "that Sir William Ashton is unwilling to
announced himself in the Castle of Wolf's Crag."
"I had hoped it was unnecessary," said the Lord Keeper, relieved from
his silence, as a spectre by the voice of the exorcist, "and I am
obliged to you, Master of Ravenswood, for breaking the ice at once,
where circumstances--unhappy circumstances, let me call them--rendered
self-introduction peculiarly awkward."
"And I am not then," said the Master of Ravenswood, gravely, "to
consider the honour of this visit as purely accidental?"
"Let us distinguish a little," said the Keeper, assuming an appearance
of ease which perhaps his heart was a stranger to; "this is an honour
which I have eagerly desired for some time, but which I might never
have obtained, save for the accident of the storm. My daughter and I are
alike grateful for this opportunity of thanking the brave man to whom
she owes her life and I mine.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230