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A Legend of Montrose-Part11_WALTER SCOTT(1771-1832)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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his brother-in-law. The laird was absent, and the lady



reluctantly received as guests, men against whom, perhaps, she

was afraid to shut her gates. Refreshments were placed before



the Children of the Mist, who took an opportunity to take the

head of their victim from the plaid in which it was wrapt, placed



it on the table, put a piece of bread between the lifeless jaws,

bidding them do their office now, since many a good meal they had



eaten at that table. The lady, who had been absent for some

household purpose, entered at this moment, and, upon beholding



her brother's head, fled like an arrow out of the house into the

woods, uttering shriek upon shriek. The ruffians, satisfied with



this savagetriumph, withdrew. The terrified menials, after

overcoming the alarm to which they had been subjected, sought



their unfortunatemistress in every direction, but she was

nowhere to be found. The miserable husband returned next day,



and, with the assistance of his people, undertook a more anxious

and distant search, but to equally little purpose. It was



believed universally, that, in the ecstasy of her terror, she

must either have thrown herself over one of the numerous



precipices which overhang the river, or into a deep lake about a

mile from the castle. Her loss was the more lamented, as she was



six months advanced in her pregnancy; Angus M'Aulay, her eldest

son, having been born about eighteen months before.--But I tire



you, Captain Dalgetty, and you seem inclined to sleep."

"By no means," answered the soldier; "I am no whit somnolent; I



always hear best with my eyes shut. It is a fashion I learned

when I stood sentinel."



"And I daresay," said Lord Menteith, aside to Anderson, "the

weight of the halberd of the sergeant of the rounds often made



him open them."

Being apparently, however, in the humour of story-telling, the



young nobleman went on, addressing himself chiefly to his

servants, without minding the slumbering veteran.



"Every baron in the country," said he, "now swore revenge for

this dreadful crime. They took arms with the relations and



brother-in-law of the murdered person, and the Children of the

Mist were hunted down, I believe, with as little mercy as they



had themselves manifested. Seventeen heads, the bloody trophies

of their vengeance, were distributed among the allies, and fed



the crows upon the gates of their castles. The survivors sought

out more distant wildernesses, to which they retreated."



"To your right hand, counter-march and retreat to your former

ground," said Captain Dalgetty; the military phrase having



produced the correspondent word of command; and then starting up,

professed he had been profoundly atttentive to every word that



had been spoken.

"It is the custom in summer," said Lord Menteith, without



attending to his apology, "to send the cows to the upland

pastures to have the benefit of the grass; and the maids of the



village, and of the family, go there to milk them in the morning

and evening. While thus employed, the females of this family, to



their great terror, perceived that their motions were watched at

a distance by a pale, thin, meagre figure, bearing a strong



resemblance to their deceased mistress, and passing, of course,

for her apparition. When some of the boldest resolved to



approach this faded form, it fled from them into the woods with a

wild shriek. The husband, informed of this circumstance, came up



to the glen with some attendants, and took his measures so well

as to intercept the retreat of the unhappyfugitive, and to



secure the person of his unfortunate lady, though her intellect

proved to be totally deranged. How she supported herself during



her wandering in the woods could not be known--some supposed she

lived upon roots and wild-berries, with which the woods at that






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