Wyseby

44 wvseby: a legend
even with a friend of his youth, if, in the hour of
wrath, he had done him wrong. He knew not how
to forgive. Henry contemned wealth and power;
no clan bore his name ; a rude tower on the banks of
the Kirtle was his dwelling. That rude tower con-
tained the wealth he loved — his wife. His Margaret
— near thy age, my Isabell, and lovely then as thou
art now — she was his eldest born ; and years had past
between the period of her birth, and that of the eldest
of his six other rosy innocents,— and these six rosy
innocents — that was the treasure dear to the heart
of Henry the Brave ! These were days of trouble to
me ; and, in such days, valuable indeed is the counsel
of a friend. I have told thee that Henry was wise
in council.- Under his roof I listened to the voice
of wisdom ; and as Francis, previous to his removal
to Dormont, was my constant companion, even in
my visits to Henry, Margaret and he early saw each
other. They loved, and their love grew with their
years. The heart of the father was proud of their
love, and my soul dwelt pleasantly on their future
felicity .
"'Twas an autumn night. A group sat in the
hall of Henry of Kirtle. It was a beautiful sight
that group, in that old hall. The stern warrior,
the man of daring resolve and indomitable purpose,
with his high, open, but perceptibly furrowed brow,
his protruding eyebrows, and his large eyes of deep-
est black, raying out smiles of winning kindness —
(such smiles are the sunshine of earnest souls, warm-
ing the hearts upon which they fall, and producing
holy fruit there) — now upon a gay group of laughing
innocents, now upon her round whom they cluster-
ed, shouting aloud with very excess of mirth. The