The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne | Page 8

the point of resigning his virtue and his life,
by means of a short dagger, which he wore concealed under his vest,
when the soft notes of a lute surprized his attention. It was
accompanied by a voice so enchantingly tender and melodious, that its
sounds fell on the heart of Osbert in balmy comfort: it seemed sent by
Heaven to arrest his fate: Ñ the storm of passion was hushed within
him, and he dissolved in kind tears of pity and contrition. The mournful
tenderness of the air declared the person from whom it came to be a
sufferer; and Osbert suspected it to proceed from a prisoner like himself.
The music ceased. Absorbed in wonder, he went to the grates, in quest
of the sweet musician, but no one was to be seen; and he was uncertain
whether the sounds arose from within or from without the castle. Of the
guard, who brought him his small allowance of food, he inquired
concerning what he had heard; but from him he could not obtain the
information he sought, and he was constrained to remain in a state of
suspense.
In the mean time the castle of Athlin, and its neighbourhood, was

overwhelmed with distress. The news of the earl's imprisonment at
length reached the ears of the countess, and hope once more illumined
her mind. She immediately sent offers of immense ransom to the baron,
for the restoration of her son, and the other prisoners; but the ferocity of
his nature disdained an incomplete triumph. Revenge subdued his
avarice; and the offers were rejected with the spurn of contempt. An
additional motive, however, operated in his mind, and confirmed his
purpose. The beauty of Mary had been often reported to him in terms
which excited his curiosity; and an incidental view he once obtained of
her, raised a passion in his soul, which the turbulence of his character
would not suffer to be extinguished. Various were the schemes he had
projected to obtain her, none of which had ever been executed: the
possession of the earl was a circumstance the most favourable to his
wishes; and he resolved to obtain Mary, as the future ransom of her
brother. He concealed, for the present, his purpose, that the tortures of
anxiety and despair might operate on the mind of the countess, to grant
him an easy consent to the exchange, and to resign the victim the wife
of her enemy.
The small remains of the clan, unsubdued by misfortune, were eager to
assemble; and, hazardous as was the enterprize, to attempt the rescue of
their Chief. The hope which this undertaking afforded, once more
revived the Countess; but alas! a new source of sorrow was now
opened for her: the health of Mary visibly declined; she was silent and
pensive; her tender frame was too susceptible of the sufferings of her
mind; and these sufferings were heightened by concealment. She was
prescribed amusement and gentle exercise, as the best restoratives of
peace and health. One day, as she was seeking on horseback these lost
treasures, she was tempted by the fineness of the evening to prolong her
ride beyond its usual limits: the sun was declining when she entered a
wood, whose awful glooms so well accorded with the pensive tone of
her mind. The soft serenity of evening, and the still solemnity of the
scene, conspired to lull her mind into a pleasing forgetfulness of its
troubles; from which she was, ere long, awakened by the approaching
sound of horses' feet. The thickness of the foliage limited her view; but
looking onward, she thought she perceived through the trees, a
glittering of arms; she turned her palfry, and sought the entrance of the

wood. The clattering of hoofs advanced in the breeze! her heart,
misgave her, and she quickened her pace. Her fears were soon justified;
she looked back, and beheld three horsemen armed and disguised
advancing with the speed of pursuit. Almost fainting, she flew on the
wings of terror; all her efforts were vain; the villains came up; one
seized her horse, the others fell upon her two attendants: a stout scuffle
ensued, but the strength of her servants soon yielded to the weapons of
their adversaries; they were brought to the ground, dragged into the
wood, and there left bound to the trees. In the mean time, Mary, who
had fainted in the arms of the villain who seized her, was borne away
through the intricate mazes of the woods; and her terrors may be easily
imagined, when she revived, and found herself in the hands of
unknown men. Her dreadful screams, her tears, her supplications, were
ineffectual; the wretches were deaf alike to pity and to enquiry; they
preserved an inflexible silence, and she saw herself conveying