Necessity is a stern but an
excellent schoolmistress, and she that has lost her sight must collect
her information from other sources."
"Well, you hear a man's step, I grant it," said Lucy; "but why, Alice,
may it not be my father's?"
"The pace of age, my love, is timid and cautious: the foot takes leave
of the earth slowly, and is planted down upon it with hesitation; it
is the hasty and determined step of youth that I now hear, and--could I
give credit to so strange a thought--I should say is was the step of a
Ravenswood."
"This is indeed," said Ravenswood, "an acuteness of organ which I could
not have credited had I not witnessed it. I am indeed the Master of
Ravenswood, Alice,--the son of your old master."
"You!" said the old woman, with almost a scream of surprise--"you the
Master of Ravenswood--here--in this place, and thus accompanied! I
cannot believe it. Let me pass my old hand over your face, that my touch
may bear witness to my ears."
The Master sate down beside her on the earthen bank, and permitted her
to touch his features with her trembling hand.
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