“Do not ask me;
On doubts like these thou canst not task me.
We only see the passing show
Of human passions' ebb and flow;
And view the pageant's idle glance
As mortals eye the northern dance,
When thousand streamers, flashing bright,
Career it o'er the brow of night.
And gazers mark their changeful gleams,
But feel no influence from their beams.”
“Yet thine own fate,” replied Halbert, “unless men greatly err, is
linked with that of mortals?”
The phantom answered,
“By ties mysterious link'd, our fated race
Holds strange connexion with the sons of men.
The star that rose upon the House of Avenel,
When Norman Ulric first assumed the name,
That star, when culminating in its orbit,
Shot from its sphere a drop of diamond dew,
And this bright font received it--and a Spirit
Rose from the fountain, and her date of life
Hath co-existence with the House of Avenel,
And with the star that rules it.”
“Speak yet more plainly,” answered young Glendinning; “of this I
can understand nothing. Say, what hath forged thy wierded [Footnote:
_Wierded_--fated.] link of destiny with the House of Avenel? Say,
especially, what fate now overhangs that house?”