mine," whispered Lawrence, as he rose from his seat, and forcing an outward calmness, nerved himself to meet the man who, in his inmost soul he distrusted, but scorned to wrong. "The one he was a brisk lieutenant, The other, he was a brave young captain-" "Halloa, Colonel!" broke off Guy, abruptly, as he came out into the moonlight. "I took you for nothing but a spook looming up in the ghostly moonlight. What the devil took you here? A thousand pardons for using naughty words in your presence, lassie," he continued, as he caught sight of Damaris, still seated upon the rustic bench. "Pon honour, I did not see you.' Henry Lawrence had purposely interposed his tall figure between the agitated girl and her betrothed, to allow her a moment in which to compose her features and collect her thoughts. Had Guy Kingsland loved deeply he might have taken alarm at her unwonted silence, but he was quite incapable of any depth of affection, and noticed nothing in the manner of either the girl or Colonel Lawrence to arouse a suspicion of the truth. How thoroughly Damaris despised herself as Guy wound his arm about her waist with the freedom of an accepted lover, soon to be her husband, and led her away, her lips quivering in a grieved way as she saw the Colonel stretch out his hand involuntarily as if he would snatch her from the embrace of the man to whom she was bound. Only for an instant. Then the brave soldier was himself again, and with a stern, set face he turned away in the direction of the beach, saying that he would linger yet a little under the bewitching moonlight. And this was the real parting between the pair whom an ill-starred love had made miserable. It was in the early morning that the few, brief words of a formal farewell were spoken, all that was granted those two who were parted by an inexorable fate, and then the wretched girl fled away to her own chamber, there to shed the bitterest tears that had ever fallen from her eyes during her short, bright life. CHAPTER XXVIII AN ANCIENT FAMILY "Of noble race was Shenkin." "He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent Stood like a tower." PON a peninsula stretching out between Flushing Bay and Whitestone, its shores washed by the green waters of Long Island Sound, a tract containing nine hundred acres of fertile land, and at the time of which we write called "Lawrence Neck," a dwelling had been reared that, even at the present time, would be considered a substantial mansion, and at the date of which we write was occupied by its proprietor, Captain William Lawrence, who had selected this woodland paradise as a fit setting for his home in America. It was built of stone, and after the castellated style so frequently found in Old England, the long façade fronting on the Sound, the main building flanked by massive towers, the thick stone walls pierced for musketry, just below the parapet, the narrow slits serving also as outlooks in case of an attack from hostile savage or invading Dutch. There was no stockade, such as was frequent in early colonial days, the dwelling itself being a stronghold capable of withstanding a storm of cannonballs, and within the embrasure upon the heavy battlement crowning the eastern tower a swivel gun had been mounted, capable of a range that might sweep the dense, primeval forest framing in the mansion on three sides, crescent-formed, and which, as yet, the destroying axe had scarcely touched; the great gun also commanded the waters of the Sound dashing against the rock-ribbed shore at the foot of the long slope which the mansion crowned. During the summer months Lawrence Hall was usually filled with guests, and hunting parties roamed through the woods or fished in the streams; but in late autumn and winter, and far into the spring, all was silent and dreary, the deep snows rendering the trails impassable, while the traffic between the hall and the outer world was carried on mainly through the medium of sloops and trading vessels touching at the little landing below the mansion. Among the planters whose residences were scattered at long intervals along the shore, the Lawrence brothers, three in number, were famed alike for their high courage, their probity and their pride, as men quick and fierce to resent an insult or avenge an injury, but humane, upright in their dealings, and generous to a fault, withal bitter as foemen, or staunch as friends. From time immemorial the Lawrences had been soldiers, serving in army or navy, and, as the annals of the family ran, the first known ancestor was a certain Sir Robert Laurens of Lancashire, who was knighted by Richard of the Lion Heart, under whom he served in the Crusades, his knighthood dating from 1191; coming down the line from this warlike progenitor the family traced their descent from Sir John Lawrence, who flourished in 1491, the ninth in descent from Sir Robert. Inheriting all the valour and fiery temper of the old Crusader, Sir John had the misfortune to kill a CHAPTER XXVIII AN ANCIENT FAMILY "Of noble race was Shenkin." "He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent Stood like a tower." PON a peninsula stretching out between Flushing Bay and Whitestone, its shores washed by the green waters of Long Island Sound, a tract containing nine hundred acres of fertile land, and at the time of which we write called "Lawrence Neck," a dwelling had been reared that, even at the present time, would be considered a substantial mansion, and at the date of which we write was occupied by its proprietor, Captain William Lawrence, who had selected this woodland paradise as a fit setting for his home in America. It was built of stone, and after the castellated style so frequently found in Old England, the long façade fronting on the Sound, the main building flanked by massive towers, the thick stone walls pierced for musketry, just below the parapet, the narrow slits serving also as outlooks in case of an attack from hostile savage or invading Dutch. There was no stockade, such as was frequent in early colonial days, the dwelling itself being a stronghold capable of withstanding a storm of cannonballs, and within the embrasure upon the heavy battlement crowning the eastern tower a swivel gun |