The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-23


 high hopes of 1t he did not hesitate to say afterward that the book sold not because of It's own merits but be- cause of the reputation its author had acquired by other stories. But Sir Wal ter was not man to sit down by a failure and mourn. He was conscious he said, that not to advance was in some measure to recede; that he was far from believing that the brains of an author were like a pan of milk with only one raising of cream in them that from tn time of Chaucer to those of Byron the mosl successful authors had been the most prolific, and he proposed to keep on turning out stories in spite of the failure he had made with "The Monastery" So girding on his armor again the doughty Borderer re-entered the fray with what success Is attested by the long list of immortal tales which followed upon the clun- silly constructed and rather tiresome Monastery" Even in "The Abbot" Scott does not seem to have got his knack or construction back but the novel con. tains a series of masterly pictures Of the life and the people of the time of the Regent Murray, and it was his great success in portraying the charac- ter of Mary Queen of Scots which in duced him to try his hand at Elizabeth and gave the world Wentworth
 TT was but a lonely life that the
 Lady of Avenel lived in her ances- ! tral castle in the lake on the Scot tish border Her husband. Sir Halbert Glendinning, was attached to the i'm mediate service of the Regent Murray. whose business kept the knight most of the time from home. and as Halbert was the architect of his own fortunes, nra iris q neighborhood to speak of as an "en- nobled peasant" the lady saw but It, tie of the neighbors of her own rank. For "society" was the same in Scot land in a half barbarous age as In the most splendid city of modern times, having such holy horror of climbers as to excite suspicion of the solidfty of it's own foundations.
 So, though Halbert argued that he was of really ancient lineage and much more entitled to consideration as far as blood went than the first Hay of Lon carty who bequea thed his bloody robe to his lineage or the dark gray man. who founded the house of Douglas, yet the Border nobility persisted in con sidering that the heiress of Ayenel had married below her." and the wom- en would persist in pitying her to her face or in giving utterance to that very original thought "a woman takes the rank of her husband" both of which sentiments probably occurred to the beasts, the birds and the fishes lon that wedding morn, in the Car den where the four great rivers flow"
 So the Lady of Avenel had gradu- ally withdrawn herself from inter course with the neigh boring families of distinction and lived a monotonous ex- fstence She had the superintendence of her household, to be sure, the bak- ing and the brewing, the spinning and the we&sing and such like matters to occupy her time. For in olden times lady was a housewife as well. and even duchess did not disdain the affairs of the kitchen or neglect to Keep strict supervision of her domestics. But it was a wearisome life. The castle was sjtuated in lake, and was approached by A causeway, the said causeway be- ing broken by two trenches spanned by draw bridges, which. when raised, made , the place in those days. absolutely i'm pregnable except to artillery.
 Those were troublous times-the times of the Regent Murray, when Queen Mary was a prisoner in Lochleven and her bas- tard brother ruled in her stead. aspiring to the crown. The bitter feud between the old religion and the new ragged fierce lv all over Scotland, and, the kirk being on top, the church got but scant mercy. If was time of putting down the mighty from their seats and of exalting them Of low degrees There was small garrison in the castle and a chaplain of the most virulent Calvinistic bent. who, when not indulging in an acrimonious written con- test with Abbot Eustatius of the neighbor- ing convent of Kennaquhair upon theo- logical points, relieved the gloom of the castle with long homilies to the domestics and much stern advice delivered to his lady.
 So matters stood at the castle of Avenel when one day a boy of about 10 years old. who had ventured too far into the lake and was near drowning, was rescued and brought to the castle. He was beautiful and high-spirited child, and the childless Lady Avenel felt her heart go out to him. The boy had come to the village on the lake shore with a weird and ancient woman. stern of demeanor, who called herself his grandmother. The woman did not apparently want for money. but all else pertaining to her was a mystery So much the Lady of Avenel learned upon inquiry, and when, hearing of the danger and the rescue of her young charge. the woman came to the castle and had an interview with the ladv she learned little more.
 ..Magdalen Graeme is my name," said the stern woman, T come of the Graemes of Heathergill, in Nicol Forest. peo- ple of ancient blood.'' And what takes you so far from your home?" asked the I.ady Avenel. T have no home," an- swered MagdaIen, 'it was burned by bor- der riders-my husband and sons were slain: there is not a drops blood left fin the veins of any one which is of kin tos mine'' That is no uncommon fate in these wild times" replied the / lady. but the English hands have been as deeply dyed in our blood as ever those of Scotsmen have been in yours" You are right" retroted Magdalen. for men tell me that even this strong tower was not strong enough to save your fathers life or to protect his widow ana his child" And indeed the woman .aolxa tha truth.