But as Lady Ashton
raised her head gracefully, expecting the strain at which she was to
begin the dance, she was so much struck by an unexpected alteration
in the ornaments of the apartment that she was surprised into an
exclamation, "Who has dared to change the pictures?"
All looked up, and those who knew the usual state of the apartment
observed, with surprise, that the picture of Sir William Ashton's father
was removed from its place, and in its stead that of old Sir Malise
Ravenswood seemed to frown wrath and vengeance upon the party assembled
below. The exchange must have been made while the apartments were empty,
but had not been observed until the torches and lights in the sconces
were kindled for the ball. The haughty and heated spirits of the
gentlemen led them to demand an immediate inquiry into the cause of what
they deemed an affront to their host and to themselves; but Lady Ashton,
recovering herself, passed it over as the freak of a crazy wench who was
maintained about the castle, and whose susceptible imagination had been
observed to be much affected by the stories which Dame Gourlay delighted
to tell concerning "the former family," so Lady Ashton named the
Ravenswoods.
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