Chapter VIII. THE MALEDICTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 86, 19 December 1874, Page 13

Chapter VIII. THE MALEDICTION.

w I° r aT^ v ° B™:ldB ™: ld gazed like °* c entranced on the motiont less form of Evehna, then covering his face with his hands he bursSm™±Tf Of + l°*t + Th - c fbbot'f bbot ' «* even ThWon,had ?^°7f S,^ Eandolf ' alike wtffianly and base. What, ho ! he exclaimed, " wQt thou weep like a woman for what you stole like a bandit ? hast thou the meanness toTS a woman who loathed thee? or are thy tears for the bs?of S | Oswald started up, his eyes flashing fury through then- veH of Thoxigh Eandolf de Coniston had for a time recoiled before his Their eworda crossed, and ere the horror-stricken bv*nJm fhSte " deßperate lm « e seT ™ly vonnded hta in S one d^ lo<>d " toTOUtB from the womia - H « l"0i«4 Hke tee^ei^^iis^^ri^^tlS Walter-ui revenge for the guileless, delude? EvS-IwrnS

Lord of Coniston. I will have that title, and those lands, of which thou -wast the heir, -while I, as the poor yo\inger "brother, was slighted, insulted, and defrauded, for such a thing as thou !" " Miserable hoy !" exclaimed the Earl, "art thou not yet content with the misery thy -wild passions have caused. Thou hadst not even the poor excuse that the damsel of Egreniont was bethrothed against her will to thy brother. Thou the Lord of Coniston ! That thou shalt never be. Not a coin from my coffers, nor a rood from my land shall be thine. Go, then j never let me see thy detested face again j and bear with thee the malediction of thy father !" "It shall not rest with thee, my lord, whether I own the lands of Coniston, or die a beggar thou wouldst make me. I seek neither favor nor wealth from you, who, reckoning from love, were the father of but one son. I call not yonder caitiff, brother j nor own you as a sire.. Therefore to him, and to you also, do I swear a portion of that revenge and hatred which in. future I will owe to all mankind. Doubt it not that I—lI — I will be the Lord of Coniston. Yea, though I invoke the powers of darkness to my aid !" "Miserable, unhappy youth!" exclaimed the abbot, "the power of the Evil one has been upon thee this night. The fiends are at thy heart, and thine ear. Down — down upon thy knees, wouldst thou not abandon thy soul to them for ever ! Behold this cross, the sacred emblem of our redemption, stained with an aged man's blood, shed by thee; — shed in this holy place, on the threshold of the sanctuary itself ! Cast away that sword, which sought a brother's life. Kneel to thy brother for forgiveness, he hath had great wrong from thee. Kneel to your father, and beseech his pardon. And, more than all, kneel to an offended God!" Oswald who had been about to rush from the bell-tower, was staid in his fury by the words of the abbot. His hard defiant looks, too, softened for a moment, as he looked on the blood that streamed from the abbot's hand, which had been wounded when he rushed between the infuriate brothers. Unhappily, however, his eyes encountered also the face of Randolf, pale, and wrung with pain and rage, but with the white lips curled with a sneer of mingled malice and triumph. d( Ho ! ho !" he exclaimed furiously as he pointed at Randolf . " I will not mock the heaven I have offended !" I tell thee, Lord Abbot, the fiends who beleaguer my soul, would whiten, the foulest of them all, beside yon demon in a human form, whom thou callest my brother. Avaunt, old man I nought can, either time or eternity, give me that is equal to revenge ! From seizing upon that, heaven would not tempt, nor the regions of eternal hell affright me I" With a desperate gesture the unhappy Oswald waved the abbot aside, then casting a glance full of anguish on the corpse of Evelina, he rushed out into the darkness and the storm.