CHAPTER IX.
"His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile
Play'd on his lip; and in his speech was heard
Paternal sweetness, dignity, and love."
Cowper.
It was among the wild and solitary valleys of Glamorgan that General De Brooke and his family sought their last asylum from those dark clouds of adversity that had gathered over their destiny; and nowhere could a spot have been found better suited to shroud them from the intruder's gaze, and seat them in peaceful obscurity, than this they had chosen.
Their cottage, though it was adorned by the rustic simplicity of the Gothic style, yet was not without some trifling decorations of modern fancy. To the arched roof and painted door and window, were added tasteful verandas, with fretwork, through which roses and jasmine entwined, and intermingled their delicious perfumes. In the eastern direction, a small plantation of fir and larch, sycamore and plane, with a grove of lofty trees beyond,
