. Master Humphrey's clock . e—dull, dark, and sombre ; heavy with worm-eaten books ; deadenedand shut in by faded hangings, muffling every sound ; shadowed moui-nfuliy bytrees whose rustling boughs gave ever and anon a spectral knocking at theglass ; wore, beyond all others in the house, a ghostly, gloomy air. Nor werethe group assembled there, unfitting tenants of the spot. The widow, with hermarked and startling face and downcast eyes ; Mr. Haredale stern anddespondent ever; his niece beside him, like, yet most unlike, the picture of herfather, which gazed reproachfully down upon them from t
. Master Humphrey's clock . e—dull, dark, and sombre ; heavy with worm-eaten books ; deadenedand shut in by faded hangings, muffling every sound ; shadowed moui-nfuliy bytrees whose rustling boughs gave ever and anon a spectral knocking at theglass ; wore, beyond all others in the house, a ghostly, gloomy air. Nor werethe group assembled there, unfitting tenants of the spot. The widow, with hermarked and startling face and downcast eyes ; Mr. Haredale stern anddespondent ever; his niece beside him, like, yet most unlike, the picture of herfather, which gazed reproachfully down upon them from the blackened wall; 6ARNABY RUDGE. 77 Barnaby, with his vacant look and restless eye; were all in keeping with theplace, and actors in the legend. Nay, the very raven, who had hopped uponthe table and with the air of some old necromancer appeared to be profoundlystudying a great folio volume that lay open on a desk, was strictly in unisonwith the rest, and looked like the embodied spirit of evil biding his time \a(^. I scarcely know, said the widow, breaking silence, how to begin. Youwill think my mind disordered. * The whole tenor of your quiet and reproachless life since you were lasthere, returned Mr. Haredale, mildly, shall bear witness for you. Why doyou fear to awaken such a suspicion ? You do not speak to strangers. Youhave not to claim our interest or consideration for the first time. Be moreyourself. Take heart. Any advice or assistance that I can give you, youknow is yours of right, and freely yours. What if I came, sir, she rejoined, I, who have but one other friend onearth, to reject your aid from this moment, and to say that henceforth I launchmyself upon the world, alone and unassisted, to sink or swim as Heaven maydecree ! You would have, if you came to me for such a purpose, said Mr. Haredalecalmly, some reason to assign for conduct so extraordinary, which—if onemay entertain the possibility of anything so wild and strange—would have itsweight,
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