She was
peremptorily forbidden to follow; and in her great joy at this
announcement, naturally supposing that a more favourable posture of
affairs had arisen between Sir Thomas and his lady on the subject, she
cheerfully consented to this unexpected deprivation, confident that it
was to the furthering of her child's welfare and advancement. The
infant, smiling, and unconscious of the change, was taken from his
mother's lap, his swaddling clothes carefully folded together, and
committed to the care of the aged domestic.
Little was the anxious mother aware of the great peril he had to undergo
ere the goal which bounded her anticipations was won.
It was the soft twilight of a summer's morning, and the little birds had
begun to chirp their matins, and the lark to brush the dew from her
speckled breast, waiting for the first gaze of the sun. The old man
pressed the infant closer to his bosom as he drew nigh to the steep
acclivity, the solitary dwelling of the eagle. He kissed the babe; then
looking round, fearful of intruders, he laid the wicker cradle at the
foot of the precipice, and sprang into a dark thicket close by, as if to
watch for the descent of the rapacious bird.
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