CHAPTER XIX. Her eyes Brighten'd; the quicken'd action of the blood SOUTHEY'S RODERICK. THOUGH Villejuive had followed the fortunes of the first genius of the STUARTS,he had, by a timely retreat from the standard of Prince Charles, saved his life at the expense of his honour. But he was a respectable man; and being a foreigner, the vassals of BUTE, the brave and the wise, looked upon Villejuive as an acquisition amongst them. He was a young man when he came to Rothsay, after his colonel paid the forfeit of his native loyalty at Carlisle; and though his fortune was small, by being parsimoniously dealt out, he was not only able to keep his pate white, his boots clean, his snuff nice; but by the most refined policy he contrived that the etiquette of his house, and particularly his table, should be the model for all the islanders of property; and the natural vivacity and complaisance of his genuine French soul, procured him the good opinion and best wishes of Colin St. Clyde's grandfather, who looked upon the marriage of his daughter with Monsieur B. R. Villejuive as the most ominous event in the family of the St. Clydes. Such was the man who now bent his whole soul to comfort a father and a mother, who were consumed by the purest sorrow, with which the death of an only son could have inspired them. But just at this time, Antony Levingstone, whom the news of Colin St. Clyde's fate had filled with regrets and sighs, seized the opportunity of the Laird St. Clyde's grief to visit his family. We will not say that Levingstone was an Adonis: he was handsome and tall withal, and his manners were finely elegant. His temper, naturally good, had been rendered by classic lore, of highly mellifluent tone. The stores of knowledge he had gained, he knew well how to impart ; and he was blessed with the rare gift of communicating knowledge even in chit-chat; and without once appearing a pedant, he might be compared to the genius of intelligence. Possessing these accomplishments, it was impossible for him to visit any company, especially the family of his quondam condiscipulus, without striving to soothe the doleful brow of grief, by giving the left-hand of its subject to forgetfulness and peace, and the right hand to hope and joy. Nor were his attentions lost on Norah and Ellen; and their cousins did feel no jealousy. Affliction had given a fine tone to Ellen's mind; the turbulent passions never entered her soul; for the furies in their progress through the earth on the night she was born, observed that the lintel of her father's door was stamped with the image of peace; and they passed on their way, leaving the little innocent to be suckled and nursed by virtue and charity: and Ellen's heart now possessed that nice flexibility which the driving gale gives to the poplar. Her soft nature affliction had made mellow, and every kindness of Levingstone had the impression of a die on her delicate heart. It was not love; the genius of language had not been able to find a word to denote the intercourse that passed between Ellen and Antony Levingstone; but their affections were entwined with each other, before either thought there was such a thing as a susceptible heart; and the longer they conversed, the more numerous their interviews, the more complicated became the threads that bound them; and it was not love: Ellen's thoughts had never strayed; this tender lamb could not cease to be afflicted by the loss of her dutiful brother; Levingstone was the friend of her dear brother; and the unaccountable death of that brother, caused Antony Levingstone to be equal to Colin St. Clyde. Blood had implanted in Louis Villejuive and his brother, fraternal affection to Norah and Ellen; the kindnesses of humanity to a distressed sister had made the name of brother carry a spell to Ellen's bosom; and Levingstone, |