with commiſſion to diſcloſe my death, and, under that pretence, to ſeal his title to my fortunes, by fending her, and thee, her new-born ſon, to bear me company in the gloomy confines of the grave.”
“And was my mother murdered too?” interrupted the agitated and impatient Glanville.
“The ſudden news of her huſband’s fate ſpared the murderer’s intended purpoſe. She ſurvived not the melancholy tidings. Thus far fortune favoured his curſed deſign, and thou alone remained the obſtacle to ſtop his guilty progreſs. But even this difficulty his genius, fertile in miſchief, ſurmounted. Such of the ſervants whom he ſuſpected of too ſtrong an attachment to their deceaſed lord, he found means to diſcharge; and then introducing thoſe more friendly to his intereſt, he gave thee to a ruffian, with ſtrong injunctions to deſtroy thy life; and, the better to conceal this wilful murder, conveyed a deceaſed infant to thy cradle. This part of his infernal plot ſucceeded to his wiſhes; all believed thy death was natural; but here the arm of heaven interpoſed, and ſnatched thee from the murderer’s graſp, who, diſappointed in the proſecution of this horrid purpoſe, beſmeared his hands with blood, returned to claim the promiſed bounty, and confirmed thy death with horrid oaths and dreadful imprecations. What follows, thou thyſelf art well acquainted with. Now liſten, my ſon, to thy father’s charge. Haſten hence to join the forces of the Britiſh king, to whom the name of Raymond is well known. In the adverſe army thou will meet thy father’s murderer; hunt him through every rank; he will fall beneath thy conquering ſword; yet ſpare his hated life, till, in the preſence of the royal Edward, he has confeſſed the crime that clogs his guilty foul. Fear not the juſtice of the Engliſh monarch; he will place thee in the poſſeſſion of thy family’s honours and eſtates, and thus appeaſe the manes of thy departed fire. Do this, my ſon, as thou hoped for future happineſs, and revere the memory of thy murdered friends.”
The ſhadow then glided from his fight, and the trem-
