She strayed out, as beforetime, into the woods; but their gloom was more
intense, and the very birds seemed to grow sad with her melancholy
musings. Their song, that used to be so sprightly, was now subdued and
mournful, and all their gay and bubbling hilarity was gone. If she
wandered forth towards evening, the owl hooted in her path, and the
raven croaked above her. She heard not the light matin of the lark.
Fancy, stimulated alone by gloomy impressions, laid hold on them only,
failing to recognise aught but its own image.
Sir Oskatell and her father had often taken counsel together since his
return. Shortly afterwards, Isabella received a summons to attend Sir
Thomas in private. What was the precise nature of that interview does
not appear, save that the lady withdrew to her chamber, and the brow of
Sir Thomas was for a long space moody and disturbed. Sir John Stanley,
though of gentle descent, was not endowed with an adequate inheritance,
at least for the heiress of Lathom, whose extensive possessions, though
shared by Oskatell, were deemed by Sir Thomas of sufficient magnitude to
command a connection of higher rank and importance.
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