CHAPTER IX.
"What though the field be lost!
All is not lost; th' unconquerable will,
And study of revenge."
Milton.
It was about the hour of eleven when Rosilia entered her apartment for the night; and the late conversation of Sir Howard recurring to her thoughts, she did not feel disposed to sleep. The warnings also, that had been given her regarding him by Mrs. Philimore rushed upon her recollection. Unable to penetrate the cause which had wrought him into so serious a mood that evenings, "One who is capable of being thus impressed," thought she, "cannot be innately bad. His view of mortality, it is true, leans to the dark side; yet he must be well persuaded that nought but virtue and a well-spent life will avail him whenever he is overtaken by that awful hour—the last of his existence!" During the interval of such reflections the winds ceased to rage, and a perfect calm ensued.
She rose from her seat, approached the window, and drew from before it those curtains which veiled from her sight the distant country and the glories of the Heavens! How far was it from entering her thoughts, to conceive that Sir Howard and Melliphant,
