The Wildfire Club - The Emma Hardinge Britten Archive

THE WILDFIRE CLUB.
be, "be bas never yet been known to prophesy aught but
evil; and that's the only reason why what he says comell
true."
It seemed as if the sound of Rushton's voice had·
broken the spell which opened the floodgates of inspiration
to the seer's darkened vision; for interrupting the
angry retort which Mr. Merlin was commencing to the last
speaker, he drew himself up to the full of his remarkable
height, elevated his ruined head like the towering crest
of a mighty eagle, and in a voice whose deep, sonorous
tones swept like a word of power through the high,
vaulted hall, and fell in accents of nlagic potency on each
awe-struck listener, he began thus:-
.. Again I see the light of God's own bleBsed sun.
Again I see the crisp white frost and snow shining in light
on thousand glittering sparks, o'er field and forest, woodland,
hill, and glen; I see its radiant beams reHected, too,
in diamond panes, in yonder castle tower; it is a brave
old ruin, lofty once, and grand. Kings, and knights, and
dames of high renown, have held theu- court and wassail
in its bowers; and though the fluttering ivy crowns its
walls, and bats and owls hold kingdom in its courts, the
atmosphere of royalty and pride lingers around its mOilgrown,
crumbling stones."
"'Tis my poer old barn he sees," whispered Rufus to
his next neighbor. .. The picture is graphic enough."
.. I see," continued the seer, "the night veil drawing
close. What banks of clouds are mustering in the sky!
Ah me! the darkness gathers thickly on; and now the
gloom is deeper, far more dense, than nature's night has
ever known before. It stifles me! it takes away my
breath! There is no moon to break this hideous night!
'tis darkness all impenetrable, black! and 0, what sounds
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