The paitricks whirring nearer flew,- Auld Michael raised his stately form, And slowly hameward hied,— Right weel he kenn'd what knight and horse And trumpet did betide. "Our gracious king, to whom the Lord This packet to his kinsman sends- "And ye maun hie as fast as horse Will bear you owre the lea, To Frenchman's land, and to the king "An answer frae the Frenchman ye Maun seek for clean aff hand, Then hie thee to our sov'reign lordSuch is the king's command." So spak' the knight, and Michael bow'd: "The king's hests I'll obey, The fleetest steed I shall prepare, Auld Michael to his closet gaed, But lang he baid na there, He donn'd a cleuck baith auld and queer, Frae a phial sma' a drap he pour'd, "Sir Michael Scott," according to the same high authority, "flourished during the 13th century, and was one of the ambassadors sent to bring the Maid of Norway to Scotland, upon the death of Alexander III. He was a man of much learning, chiefly acquired in foreign countries. He wrote a commentary upon Aristotle, printed at Venice in 1496; and several treatises upon natural philosophy, from which he appears to have been addicted to the abstruse studies of judicial astrology, alchymy, physiognomy, and chiromancy. Hence he passed among his contemporaries for a skilful magician. Dempster informs us, that he remembers to have heard in his youth, that the magic books of Michael Scott were still in existence, but could not be opened without danger, on account of the fiends who were thereby invoked. - Dempsteri Historia Ecclesiastica, 1627, lib. xii. p. 495. Lesly characterizes Michael Scott as 'singulari philosophiæ, astronomiæ, ac medicinæ laude præstans; dicebatur penitissimos magiæ recessus indagasse.' A personage, thus spoken of by biographers and historians, loses little of his mystical fame in vulgar tradition. Accordingly, the memory of Sir Michael Scott survives in many a legend; and in the south of Scotland, any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed, either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil." The lowe he toss'd up in the air, The sky grew black as coal, Some words he spak' that nae man kenn'd, And thunders 'gan to roll. The lightnings flash'd, the loud winds blew And tall trees bent their stately forms Midst war o' winds and thunder's crash, His count'nance glow'd, for see he comes A tall black steed, with eyes of flame, "Now woe betide thee," Michael said, By this the storm had gone to rest, The warlock and his steed flew on, Nought stay'd their headlong way, They bounded on, and night-owls screeched, On, on they sped like wintry blast, The palace porters trembling scann'd At Michael's dress; but soon with voice "What! ye refuse, ye cringing pack, A messenger so mean? Then stamp, my steed, and let them feel We're better than we seem!" The black horse stamp'd; and lo! the bells The steeple towers shook to their base "What! do ye still my suit refuse? Then stamp, my steed, once more!" The courtiers shook for very fear, And cross'd themselves right sore. Clash went the hoof, and sounds of woe Were heard on ev'ry side, The thunders roll'd, the lightnings glar'd, And through the air did ride Unearthly forms, with hoop and ho! That spewed forth smoke and fire. "Alack-a day "quoth the courtiers all, "That e'er we rais'd his ire." The muckle bell in Notre Dame 1 The bellman on a gargoyle's back The palace shook like saughen bush Or like the corn ears in the sheaf, That harvest reaper binds. The king frae regal seat was toss'd, For a vulgar part o' his bodie Came thud upon the floor. Alack-a-day!" his kingship moan'd, Maun e'en be mair than mortal man- "He e'er cam' to our palace yett!" But Michael now nae langer Wad wait. "Ye poltroon knaves, tak' tent! The third stamp shall be stranger." "Stop! stop!" they cried, "thy mighty pow'r Nae mair we can withstand, A third stamp of thy fell black horse An answer in hot haste was giv'n, And as they pass'd o'er Dover Straits, A pawky beast, and, as he pleas'd, Was horse, or de'il, or man. "Come tell to me, O master mine! But Michael was ow're slee e'en for The cunning o' the deil"What's that to thee, Diabolus? Mount, or my wand thou'lt feel. "But if indeed thou fain wadst ken "And when the sun has left the lift, Out through the blue, and sounds o' toil "Then wilt thou see auld Scotia's dames "A name, Diabolus! more dread "By this time they had England cross'd, Here Michael parting frae his steed "What ho! Sir Michael, art thou here? Hast dar'd to disobey My orders, that ambassador To France thou'dst haste away?" "Wilt please my sov'reign to receive This packet from my hand? With right good will I have obey'd My monarch's just command." The king transfix'd wi' wonder stood, Lang ere their senses had return'd TITA'S WAGER. [William Black, born in Glasgow, November, 1841. Novelist and journalist. His chief works are: Love or Marriage; In Silk Attire: Kilmeny: The Monarch of Mincing Lane; A Daughter of Heth; The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton; and A Princess of Thule. The Spectutor says that in his work "there is a mingling of humour of the raciest with pathos most truly simple and dignified." Another critic says: "Mr. Black never relies for effect upon violent means. He contrives by delicate, subtile, but sure touches to win the interest of his readers, and to retain it till the last volume is laid It is a Christmas morning-cold, still, and gray, with a frail glimmer of sunshine coming through the bare trees to melt the hoar-frost on the lawn. The postman has just gone out, swinging the gate behind him. A fire burns brightly in the breakfast-room; and there is silence about the house, for the children have gone off to climb Box-hill before being marched to church. The small and gentle lady who presides over this household walks sedately in, and lifts the solitary letter that is lying on her plate. | About three seconds suffice to let her run through its contents, and then she suddenly cries "I knew it! I said it! I told you two months ago she was only flirting with him; and now she has rejected him. And oh! I am so glad of it! The poor boy!" The other person in the room, who has been meekly waiting for his breakfast for half an hour, ventures to point out that there is nothing to rejoice over in the fact of a young man having been rejected by a young woman. "If it were final, yes! If these two young folks were not certain to go and marry somebody else, you might congratulate them both. But you know they will. The poor boy will go courting again in three months' time, and be vastly pleased with his condition." "Oh, never, never!" she says; "he has had such a lesson. You know I warned him. I knew she was only flirting with him. Poor 'He will marry within a year." "I will bet you whatever you like that he doesn't," she says, triumphantly. "Whatever I like! That is a big wager. If you lose, do you think you could pay? I should like, for example, to have my own way in my own house." "If I lose you shall," says the generous creature; and the bargain is concluded. Nothing further is said about this matter for the moment. The children return from Box-hill, and are rigged out for church. Two young people, friends of ours, and recently married, having no domestic circle of their own, and, having promised to spend the whole of Christmas-day with us, arrive. Then we set out, trying as much as possible to think that Christmas-day is different from any other day, and pleased to observe that the younger folk, at least, preserve the delusion. But just before we reach the church, I say to the small lady who got the letter in the morning, and whom we generally call Tita"When do you expect to see Charlie?" "I don't know," she answers. "After this cruel affair he won't like to go about much." 66 You remember that he promised to go with us to the Black Forest?" "Yes; and I am sure it will be a pleasant trip for him." 66 Shall we go to Hüferschingen?" "Franziska is a pretty girl." Now, you would not think that any great mischief could be done by the mere remark that Franziska was a pretty girl. Anybody who had seen Franziska Fahler, niece of the proprietor of the "Goldenen Bock" in Hüferschingen would admit that in a moment. But this is nevertheless true, that Tita was very thoughtful during the rest of our walk to this little church; and in church, too, she was thinking so deeply that she almost forgot to look at the effect of the decorations she had nailed up the day before. Yet nothing could have offended her in the bare observation that Franziska was a pretty girl. relieved. But by-and-by he began to make acquaintances in the hotels; and, as he was a handsome, English-looking lad, who bore a certificate of honesty in his clear gray eyes and easy gait, he was rather made much of. Nor could any fault be decently found with his appetite. So we passed on from Königswinter to Coblentz, and from Coblentz to Heidelberg, and from Heidelberg south to Freiburg, where we bade adieu to the last of the towns, and laid hold of a trap with a pair of ancient and angular horses, and plunged into the Höllenthal, the first great gorge of the Black Forest mountains. From one point to another we slowly urged our devious course, walking the most of the day indeed, and putting the trap and ourselves up for the night at some quaint roadside hostelry, where we ate of roe-deer and drank of Affenthaler, and endeavoured to speak German with a pure Waldshut accent. And then one evening, when there was a clear green At dinner, in the evening, we had our two guests and a few young fellows from London who did not happen to have their families or homes there. Curiously enough, there was a vast deal of talk about travelling, and also about Baden, and more particularly about the southern districts of Baden. Tita said the Black Forest was the most charming place in the world; and as it was Christmas-day, and as we had been listening to a sermon all about charity, and kindness, and consideration for others, nobody was rude enough to contradict her. But our forbearance was put to a severe test when, after dinner, she produced a photographic album and handed it round, and challenged everybody to say whether the young lady in the corner was not absolutely lovely. Most of them said that she was certainly very nice-looking; and Tita seemed a little dis-and-gold sky overhead, and when the last rays appointed. I perceived that it would no longer do to say that Franziska was a pretty girl. We should henceforth have to swear by everything we held dear, that she was absolutely lovely. he was very grateful; and he said, with a blush, that, in any case, he would not rail against all women because of the badness of one. Indeed, you would not have fancied he had any great grudge against womankind. There were a great many English abroad that autumn, and we met whole batches of pretty girls at every station and every table d'hôte on our route. Did he avoid them, or glare at them savagely, or say hard things of them? Oh, no! quite the reverse. He was a little shy at first; and when he saw a party of distressed damsels in a station, with their bewildered father in vain attempting to make himself understood to a porter, he would assist them in a brief and business-like manner, as if it were a duty, lift his cap, and then march off, of the sun were shining along the hills and touching the stems of the tall pines, we drove into a narrow valley and caught sight of a strange building of wood, with projecting eaves and quaint windows that stood close by the forest. " "Here is my dear inn," cried Tita, with a great glow of delight and affection in her face. Here is mein gutes Thal! Ich grüss' dich ein tausend Mal! And here is old Peter come out to see us; and there is Franziska!" "Oh! this is Franziska, is it?" said Charlie. Yes, this was Franziska. She was a wellbuilt, handsome girl of nineteen or twenty, with a healthy sun-burnt complexion, and dark hair plaited into two long tails, which were taken up and twisted into a knot behind. That you could see from a distance. But on nearer approach you found that Franziska had really fine and intelligent features, and a pair of frank, clear, big brown eyes that had a very straight look about them. They were something of the eyes of a deer, indeed; wide apart, soft, and apprehensive, yet looking with a certain directness and unconsciousness that overcame her natural girlish timidity. Tita simply flew at her and kissed her heartily, and asked her twenty questions at once. Franziska answered in very fair English, a little slow and formal, but quite grammatical. Then she was introduced to Charlie, and she shook hands with him in a simple and unembarrassed way, and then she turned to one of the servants and gave some directions about the luggage. Finally, she begged Tita to go indoors and get off her travelling attire, which | too, lost it, and all the forest around us seemed was done, leaving us two outside. "She's a very pretty girl," Charlie said, carelessly. "I suppose she's sort of head cook and kitchen-maid here." The impudence of these young men is something extraordinary. If you wish to have your head in your hands," I remarked to him, "just you repeat that remark at dinner. Why, Franziska is no end of a swell. She has two thousand pounds and the half of a mill. She has a sister married to the Geheimer-Ober-Hofbaurath of HesseCassel. She has visited both Paris and Munich; and she has her dresses made in Fribourg." "But why does such an illustrious creature bury herself in this valley, and in an old inn, and go about bareheaded?" "Because there are folks in the world without ambition, who like to live a quiet, decent, homely life. Every girl can't marry a Geheimer-Ober-Hofbaurath. Ziska, now, is much more likely to marry the young doctor here." "Oh, indeed! and live here all her days. She couldn't do better. Happy Franziska!" We went indoors. It was a low, large, rambling place, with one immense room all hung round with roe-deers' horns, and with one lesser room fitted up with a billiard-table. The inn lay a couple of hundred yards back from Hüferschingen, but it had been made the head-quarters of the keepers, and just outside this room were a number of pegs for them to sling their guns and bags on when they came in of an evening to have a pipe and a chopin of white wine. Ziska's uncle and aunt were both large, stout, and somnolent people, very good-natured and kind, but a trifle dull. Ziska really had the management of the place, and she was not slow to lend a hand if the servants were remiss in waiting on us. But that, it was understood, was done out of compliment to Tita. to have a pale blue mist stealing over it as the night fell and the twilight faded out of the sky overhead. Presently the long undulations of fir would grow black, and the stars would come out, and the sound of the stream be heard distantly in the hollow; and then, as Tita knew, we should go off for a last stroll in among the soft moss and under the darkness of the pines, perhaps to startle some great capercailzie and send it flying and whirring down the glades. When we returned from that prowl into the forest we found the inn dark. Such people as may have called in had gone home; but we suspected that Franziska had given the neighbours a hint not to overwhelm us on our first arrival. When we entered the big room Franziska came in with candles; then she brought some matches, and also put on the table an odd little pack of cards, and went out. Her uncle and aunt had, even before we went out, come and bade us good-night formally and shaken hands all round. They are early folk in the Black Forest. "Where has that girl gone now?" said Charlie. "Into that lonely billiard-room? Couldn't you ask her to come in here? Or shall we go and play billiards?" Tita stares, and then demurely smiles; but it is with an assumed severity that she rebukes him for such a wicked proposal, and reminds him that he must start early next morning. He groans assent. Then she takes her leave. The big young man sits silent for a moment or two, with his hands in his pockets and his legs stretched out. I begin to think I am in for it-the old story of blighted hopes, and angry denunciation, and hypocritical joy, and all the rest of it. But suddenly Charlie looks up with a business-like air, and says, "Who is that doctor fellow you were speaking about? Shall we see him to-morrow?" You saw him to-night. It was he who passed us on the road with the two beagles.” "What, that little fellow with the bandy legs and the spectacles?" he cries, with a great laugh. "That little fellow," I observe to him, "is a person of some importance, I can tell you. He" By-and-by we sat down to dinner, and Franziska came to see that everything was going on straight. It was a dinner with scenery." You forgot to be particular about the soup, the venison, and the Affenthaler, when from the window at your elbow you could look across the narrow valley and behold a long| stretch of the Black Forest shining in the red glow of the sunset. The lower the sun sank the more intense became the crimson light on the tall stems of the pines; and then you could see the line of shadow slowly rising up the side of the opposite hill until only the topmoster." trees were touched with the fire. Then these, "I suppose his sister married a GeheimerOber-under- what the dickens is it?" says this disrespectful young man. "Dr. Krumm has got the Iron Cross." That won't make his legs any the straight "He was at Weissemburg." |