have evidently bled to death;—but no blood is spilt around, the face is white and fixed, as if it had died of horror.” “And he, my betrothed,” cries Lucy, “ Roland is there.” Nevertheless the company laugh at these old stories and determine to make their way to the old castle. This they actually find in far better state than they have been led to expect, and their servants who have insisted upon Davy showing them the way soon get a very fair supper from the provisions they have purchased at his inn. Roland Peveryl is not to be found, but whilst they are eating a stranger enters, a Puritan, and announces himself as Gervase Rookwood, a traveller who has lost his way in the mountains. Davy, however, almost collapses with terror. He recollects that many years before the castle belonged to Sir Owen Raby, a noble cavalier, while Alan Raby, his younger brother had joined the forces of Cromwell. Taking advantage of this difference the traitor one midnight with a band of Puritan soldiers surprises the castle, and butchers the sleeping garrison, killing his brother with his own hand. About a year later, however, the tables are turned, the Royalists recapture the place, Alan Raby is seized, and in their rage they hurl the fratricide from a window which hung shudderingly over a fearful precipice. Curiously enough no trace of the body could ever be recovered. But Davy recognizes that Gervase Rookwood is none other than Alan Raby. Here we have the old belief that a man guilty of some monstrous crime, in this case rebellion against the King and the murder of a brother, is compelled to return as a vampire. When the company disperse to their various apartments for the night Lord Clavering is horrified to discover in his room the dead body of young Roland Peveryl, “a wound deep in his throat, but bloodless.” At the same moment a piercing scream is heard and Lucy Peveryl rushing from her chamber with her hands wildly clasping her neck falls dead in Lord Clavering’s arms. Seeing as he thinks a shadowy form that steals from her room he draws a pistol and fires. When the company hurry in with lights they discover Alan Raby has been shot. In faltering accents the dying man explains that hearing a cry for help he hastened to the lady’s assistance. He will only forgive Lord Clavering on one condition. “When I have breathed my last, let my body be conveyed amongst the peaks of Snowdon, and there exposed to the first rays of the rising
