"
"You are welcome to make what use of them you please," said Sir Henry;
"they have been undisturbed for many a day, and I have often wished for
some person as well skilled as you in these old pothooks, to tell me
their meaning."
"Those I just mentioned," answered Maxwell, "relate to a piece of private
history savouring not a little of the marvellous, and intimately
connected with your family; if it is agreeable, I can read to you the
anecdotes in the modern shape into which I have been endeavouring to
throw them, and you can then judge of the value of the originals."
There was something in this proposal agreeable to all parties. Sir Henry
had family pride, which prepared him to take an interest in whatever
related to his ancestors. The ladies had dipped deeply into the
fashionable reading of the present day. Lady Ratcliff and her fair
daughters had climbed every pass, viewed every pine-shrouded ruin, heard
every groan, and lifted every trap-door, in company with the noted
heroine of "Udolpho." They had been heard, however, to observe that the
famous incident of the Black Veil singularly resembled the ancient
apologue of the Mountain in labour, so that they were unquestionably
critics, as well as admirers.
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