, 1873-01-19
THE SKEPThR YCKU1L.
"a remarkable face" sald /.
.'very remarkable" replied my host.
Whose likeness ia it t2-tl1at il, it I may in

"a remarkable face, said /.
"Ve1y remarkable" replied my host.
"Whose likeness is it?-that il, it may in
quire.'
:" Certainly" old Gervais Laurence 1esponde
at whose house had been sojonrnlng for
week or two certainly. That is the portrai
i OF Aamet Harrington, dear friend OF min
hah century ago. Yes, as you say, 1emarka
bic face, and owned by one who endured fat
yet moro remarkable"
This Portrait, on which the fre-light steadil
strea1ned, represented 3 countenance Of or
| treme unnatural palIor, rnado the more conspic
uous by eJes OF BLACKLIST lustEo, and BY hug
black mustacho and beard, out Of whose depth
gloomy shadows seemed to be cast upward across
the melancholy features. These features wer
rgd impassiye, resembling the features Of |
corpse, With the exception OF tho eyes, which
we're full Of vivid horror.
J =" see that your curiosity has been Eeenl,
aroused" !" said the old gentleman, after min
ute's silence. ''Well, tho hour in early, and, i
history"
/ I sssonted With eagerness. D.
.UPon consideration" Mr Laurence contin
ued, when he hnd paused to muse ittlo, "1'l
relate the story just originally it waa related
to me; or, better still. fancy tho portrait yonde1
q living man, stepped out Of the frame, nne
seated in this armchair beside mo. lie would
| tell you his adventure AZ follows:
] II am the son OF Arthur Harrington, who had
become, before his death, ono Of the richest
commoners in England. have, OF rather had
q twin brother, Stephen, so much like me in per
sonal appearance, manners, and perhaps may
harder and colder-that even our intimntea
found it difficult TO distinguish us when apart.
son the eya Of our twentieth birthday ou1
father died-died suddenly and unexpectedly
from heart-dlsease, brought on (tha doctor
| thought) by passionate, nnreBtrained grief TOR
the loss (two years before) Of his wifo, our be-
| loved and beautiful mother.
! "Our fathers will was peculiar. He left to us
| the whole OF his immense property, upon the
! single condition that Ee should after graduating
| at Oxford period near ut hand-devoto at
least ee7on years OF early manhood to Systematic
foreign travel. This condition fulfilled, we wero
to settle on the family estates, and not to leave
Great Britain again upon any prete1t whatso-
ever.
Need say that the freedom and adyentur-
ous change offered us in such an extensive aud
prolonged travelling scheme were precisely what
coupio Of ardent youths would desire aud up
provo?
j" Four years Of the specified term Of travel had
elapsed. Stephen and had well carried out our
fathers intention. There was hardly land
city, province, or even island, OF The Eastern or
Wostern hemispheres, which wehad failed to vis-
1t, when, IN the spring of the year 49,, no found
ourselves in Christiana, in Norway. Here wo
met an erudite and communicative gentleman, a
native Of Iceland who had been, for decade
and upward, Professor OF Geology in the scienti-
hc college at Christians, and who so deeply in
ties Of tho Island Of Lis Birth, thas We resolved
to take advantage Of the favorable season, and
to sail for Iceland Immediately.
+ /" In every way destiny favored our plan. A
brig bound tor Reikiavik lay at that moment in
the harbor, and We encountered no difficulty in
procuring berths. aboard. Our voyage was
equally brief and prosperous. Some time in
april, We landed at the capital, on the Fare
Fiord. Before leaving Norway ne had procured
letters Of Introduction from Prof. Thoro to the
Protector Of tho district in which tho capital was
situated, who received uB with enthusiastic cor
diality, and begged us to remain with him during
our sojourn in the country.
"Such an invitation va could not refuse.
Therefore We soon became domesticated in tho
household Of our host~-a man Of 4 character
rarely found, save in those remote regions,
whore the rigors Of the climate foster the home
bred virtues, and strengthen all tho ties OF as
sociatiou.
ssThe Protectors name was Racrek. He
could trace his ancestry, up and up through the
centuries, to that remote period when, 1nedimyal
Europe being plunged in the blaeknesa OF moral
darkness, living, as Miohelet says, in constant,
corroding fear-fear Of men, fear Of tho State,
fear OF hell, and fear of death-a pure Christian
ity, a liberal government, and genuine, en1ight-
ened scholarship had fled, SO to speak, to an
ultima Thule, and taken up their abode in storm
BuAASA 4EclauA. A6 4ll Luc pEG66uk 4AuAS, ~
consisted Of son-a somewhat bear-hke and
uuconth lad who could not be made his fEther |
rueful1y remarked, to learn even the rudrnents |
Of his 'hu1nanities ami OF an o1quisitively |
beautiful niece, Christina. To tho latter belong
ed the fair complexion Of the women Of tho !
North; but her eyes we're full, dark, and lust |
trous, as those which bewi1der tho stranger on |
the thoroughfares OF Cadfz Or Barcelona. But |
her rare intelligence, her perfect freedom OF air
and movement, combined with as perfect mod
esty, and q fascination OF manner ut onco in
descnbab1e and irreBiBtable, impressed one
eyen more, possible, than her angular physi-
,al beauty.
20 the soles Of her small, hrmly-planted feet,
seemed SO full Of vitality that ono might hAvs
imagined
Her very body thought.
"My brother Stephen, more tender-hearted end
susceptible than !, naturally succumbed to the
gracious swoetness aud almost ideal charm OF
his young maiden, the like OF whom We had
,eheld nowhere elso, not ovon the fair itnmcmo-
ial homes OF beauty through which ne had
'een accustomed to stay at leisure, for year
Iftor year.
':somo weoks' residence at Roikiavik had gone
bandon the sea-side and its sporta for visit to
he interior Of the island.
"stephen receiEed the proposition with any
hing but favor. It was not, indeed, until
1uAAaLAAA uctoS1 GOu4N Oo poAaA+a4eA ~ JO4A |
he excursion that he displayed the slightest
'ish to examine the curioBities OF the midland
PROVINCES.
sIhe incidents Of our journey we're scarcely
Rocky plains stretching to the
ar, vapory horizon, stunted plants, precipitous
ills, and wild, impetuous riyulats that
ushed from their summits with the visionary !
olocity OF dreams-these formed the general
haracteristics OF the landscape through which
10 passed
eparturo from the eeaboard. We spread our
snts upon the borders Of one Of tie noblest
treans that ever rolled from mountains to the !
cenn.
"Tho name Of this river was the 6kaptar
,oknl- It swept through the spacious meadows,
ringed with peculiar-looking he1bage.
~ Hero we established our temporary home. !
,shing nnd hunting consumed our time or
ather, I should say, my time, and that Of
lost Of our comrades, for Stephen mover
3ioed Us.
" We had now been many days On the banks of
10 6kaptar Yokui. Raerok's steward, tho eldest
tho party, declared that ho had never knownn
eason in Iceland 80 far advanced, and favorable {
or vegetation. {
+" The blades OF me1ur, OF wild oats, we're {