_Old Play._
When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse was an
irresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who would have thus
connected him with age, ugliness, and ill-temper; but his next thought
was pity for the unfortunate father and daughter, who, being the only
persons possessed of wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like a
wreck on the sea-shore of a barbarous country, only secured from
plunder for the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among whom it had
been cast. Neither could he help being conscious that his own
residence here was upon conditions equally precarious, and that he was
considered by the Alsatians in the same light of a godsend on the
Cornish coast, or a sickly but wealthy caravan travelling through the
wilds of Africa, and emphatically termed by the nations of despoilers
through whose regions it passes _Dummalafong_, which signifies a thing
given to be devoured--a common prey to all men.
Nigel had already formed his own plan to extricate himself, at
whatever risk, from his perilous and degrading situation; and, in
order that he might carry it into instant execution, he only awaited
the return of Lowestoffe's messenger. He expected him, however, in
vain, and could only amuse himself by looking through such parts of
his baggage as had been sent to him from his former lodgings, in order
to select a small packet of the most necessary articles to take with
him, in the event of his quitting his lodgings secretly and suddenly,
as speed and privacy would, he foresaw, be particularly necessary, if
he meant to obtain an interview with the king, which was the course
his spirit and his interest alike determined him to pursue.
Pages:
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474