Chapter 33

This by his tongue should be a Montague!
Fetch me my rapier, boy;
Now, by the faith and honour of my kin,
To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.

Romeo and Juliet.

HARDLY had Miss Ashton dropped the pen, when the door of the apartment
flew open, and the Master of Ravenswood entered the apartment.

Lockhard and another domestic, who had in vain attempted to oppose his
passage through the gallery or antechamber, were seen standing on the
threshold transfixed with surprise, which was instantly communicated to
the whole party in the state-room. That of Colonel Douglas Ashton was
mingled with resentment; that of Bucklaw with haughty and affected
indifference; the rest, even Lady Ashton herself, showed signs of
fear; and Lucy seemed stiffened to stone by this unexpected apparition.
Apparition it might well be termed, for Ravenswood had more the
appearance of one returned from the dead than of a living visitor.

He planted himself full in the middle of the apartment, opposite to the
table at which Lucy was seated, on whom, as if she had been alone in the
chamber, he bent his eyes with a mingled expression of deep grief and
deliberate indignation. His dark-coloured riding cloak, displaced from
one shoulder, hung around one side of his person in the ample folds of
the Spanish mantle. The rest of his rich dress was travel-soiled, and
deranged by hard riding. He had a sword by his side, and pistols in his
belt. His slouched hat, which he had not removed at entrance, gave
an additional gloom to his dark features, which, wasted by sorrow and
marked by the ghastly look communicated by long illness, added to a
countenance naturally somewhat stern and wild a fierce and even savage
expression. The matted and dishevelled locks of hair which escaped from
under his hat, together with his fixed and unmoved posture, made his
head more resemble that of a marble bust than that of a living man. He
said not a single word, and there was a deep silence in the company for
more than two minutes.

It was broken by Lady Ashton, who in that space partly recovered her
natural audacity. She demanded to know the cause of this unauthorised
intrusion.

"That is a question, madam," said her son, "which I have the best right
to ask; and I must request of the Master of Ravenswood to follow me
where he can answer it at leisure."

Bucklaw interposed, saying, "No man on earth should usurp his previous
right in demanding an explanation from the Master. Craigengelt," he
added, in an undertone, "d--n ye, why do you stand staring as if you saw
a ghost? fetch me my sword from the gallery."

"I will relinquish to none," said Colonel Ashton, "my right of