God knows what, hanging over me. Oblige me by staying this night with me. Don’t look so cast down, my lad; it’s only to guard against possibilities.”
Katharine immediately offered her services to sit up with her father, and was unwilling to entrust the care of him to any body else, even to her own William; but father Bertram declined her offer.—“Another time,” said he, “another time; to-night I feel as if I should be easier if I had William with me.”
“William was disposed at first to excuse himself: but Kate commended her father so earnestly to his care, that her requests were not to be resisted; and he staid with a good grace, and put off the execution of his plan until the succeeding night.
After midnight the old forester became tranquil, and slept soundly, so that, on the following morning, he laughed at his own fears. He would have gone with William into the forest; but William still clung to the hope of meeting his mysterious acquaintance with the wooden-leg, and, therefore, opposed his wishes with a
