The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-21

dominic to shake his head and groan
again. She was fairly six feet tall. had a
mans greatcoat over her other dress,
had in her hand stout cudgel and in all
points of equipment except her petticoats
seemed rather masculine than feminine.
Her dark elf-loclxs shot out like the
snakes of the Gorgon frob beneath an
effect of her strong and weather-beaten
features, which they partially Swallowed,
while her eyes had wild roll to them
which betokened something like real or
assumed insanity "Aweel, Ellangowan,"
she cried, would 1t not have been a
bonnie thing for the lady to have been
brought to bed and me not here to ward
off the worriecrows the leves and the
gyre-carlings fare the bonnie BARN, or
said St. Colme's charm for its sake? The
dear!" Then waving her cudgel like a
magic wand she sang in a high. shrill
voice a weird charm which she concluded
by cutting three capers so high that she
almost touched the roof and said And
now, Laird, will We no order me tass o.
brandy? And We maun tell me the exact
L
Its fortune
mo heed,' responded Ellangowan.
here is a scholar from Oxford who.
doubtless. can tell the future better than
you" He spoke at random, but as
matter of fact Mannering in his boyhood
had been blessed with a tutor who was
much given to dabbling in astrology, and
he had, as pastime, imbibed much of
the dubious lore. So entering into the
spirit of the occasion the young man said
certainly he would cast the BARNS horo-
scope, according to the rules of the tri-
plicities,' and Sampson venturing to pro-
test against and decry all astrology as
wickedness, Mannering let forth upon the
dominic food OF all the astrological
technicalities he could remember, quite
him with bewilderment and
causing the Laird to cape and stare,
while Meg fixed a wondering eye upon
the speaker, overpowered by a jargon
more mysterious than her own.
And Mannering did calculate the ma
tivity' of the boy who was born that
night, doing 1t from the terrace before
the house where, SO impressive was the
scene, with the shattered towers of the
ruined castle lifting themselves to tho
sky, the fitting lights offsome smugglers
appearing and vanishing on the shores OF
the cove below and the stars and planets
swimming in the clear heavens that, in
spite of his reason, he half believed that
those luminous orbs might In some way
be linked with the destinies of man.
According to Mannerings calculations
the boy would be in great peril at three
periods of his career-his fifth. his tenth
and his twenty-first year.
He was struck by a singular coinci-
dence. In England he had left a young
lady, whom he had decided to make his
wife, Miss Sophia Wildwood. He had
once, by way of joke, cast her horo-
scope and 1t had shown that she would
encounter great peril in her thirty-ninth
year. She was now eighteen, so that her
year of peril would correspond with the
twenty-frst year of the boy born that
night. Does the devil mingle in the
Dance" thought he, ito avenge himself
for our trifing with an art said to be of
magic origin? Or Is 1t possible, as Bacon
and Sir Thomas Brown admit, that there
Is some truth in a sober and well-or-
1ered astrology?" He dismissed the idea
from him as fantastical yet hesitated to
give the horoscope to Mr.. Bertram. Fin
ally he sealed it up in a package and
/ md aI IN he T.air I'd wi ba gpt1
ton that it was not to be opened until
the boy had passed his fifth year, think
Ing that, as the first period of peril would
then probably have passed with no I'M
toward accident. the parents would not
be disturbed by the rest of the prophecy.
The next morning the traveller departed.
passing south to his own future-mar-
riage. wealth and distinguished mill
tary career in India-little dreaming that,
though continents and oceans might d.
vide him from the dark and crumblins
towers of Ellangowan. fate had linked
together the destinies of the Mannerings
and the Bertrams forever.
The years passed and brought at last
the fifth anniversary of the birth Of Har-
ry Bertram. Enangowan's heir. The
child had always worn around his neck,
confined in silken bag. the horoscope
which the stranger had cast for him at
his birth and the lady said to the Laird,
Harry is five years old this very day.
let US open the paper which the Eng
lishman made out when Harry was
born" The Laird replied, mo, my dear,
we must wait until tomorrow. As a
justice of the peace, I must tell you that
the last time was at quarter sessions
tus-well, it means that day is not be-
gun until 1t is ended" THAT sounds like
answered the lady. ut may
be so. my dear, but good law for all that.
And there comes Frank Kennedy gall
Looping up; no doubt he's after Dirk Hat
teraick and his smugglers"
It will be seen by this conversation that
Ellangowan was not on such friendly
terms with the smugglers as he was in
the days when Mannering had seen their
lights on. the beach below the old castle
In those days the "fair traders" as they
called themselves, did q nourishing bus-
ness between the Isle OF Man and the
shores of Ellangowan's estates and used
the old castle 0ndisturbed for storing
their goods. WIN the gypsies. too, who
for forty years had dwelt unnolested In
their huts In a ravine below the old
cleugh. the Laird had got into feud. He