CHAPTER IX. WALTER AND THE CORPORAL ON THE ROAD.--THE EVENING SETS IN.--THE GIPSEY TENTS.--ADVENTURE WITH THE HORSEMAN.--THE CORPORAL DISCOMFITED, AND THE ARRIVAL AT KNARESBOROUGH. CHAPTER X. WALTER’S REFLECTIONS.--MINE HOST.--A GENTLE CHARACTER AND A GREEN OLD AGE.--THE GARDEN, AND THAT WHICH IT TEACHETH.--A DIALOGUE, WHEREIN NEW HINTS TOWARDS THE WISHED FOR DISCOVERY ARE SUGGESTED.--THE CURATE.--A VISIT TO A SPOT OF DEEP INTEREST TO THE ADVENTURER. CHAPTER XI. GRIEF IN A RUFFIAN.--THE CHAMBER OF EARLY DEATH.--A HOMELY YET MOMENTOUS CONFESSION.--THE EARTH’S SECRETS.--THE CAVERN.--THE ACCUSATION. BOOK V. CHAPTER I. GRASSDALE.--THE MORNING OF THE MARRIAGE.--THE CRONES’ GOSSIP. THE BRIDE AT HER TOILET.--THE ARRIVAL. CHAPTER II. THE STUDENT ALONE IN HIS CHAMBER.--THE INTERRUPTION.--FAITHFUL LOVE. CHAPTER III. THE JUSTICE.--THE DEPARTURE.--THE EQUANIMITY OF THE CORPORAL IN BEARING THE MISFORTUNES OF OTHER PEOPLE.--THE EXAMINATION; ITS RESULT.--ARAM’S CONDUCT IN PRISON.--THE ELASTICITY OF OUR HUMAN NATURE.--A VISIT FROM THE EARL.--WALTER’S DETERMINATION.--MADELINE. CHAPTER IV. THE EVENING BEFORE THE TRIAL.--THE COUSINS.--THE CHANGE IN MADELINE.--THE FAMILY OF GRASSDALE MEET ONCE MORE BENEATH ONE ROOF. CHAPTER V. THE TRIAL CHAPTER VI. THE DEATH.--THE PRISON.--AN INTERVIEW.--ITS RESULT CHAPTER VII. THE CONFESSION; AND THE FATE CHAPTER VIII AND LAST. THE TRAVELLER’S RETURN.--THE COUNTRY VILLAGE ONCE MORE VISITED.--ITS INHABITANTS.--THE REMEMBERED BROOK.--THE DESERTED MANOR-HOUSE.--THE CHURCH-YARD.--THE TRAVELLER RESUMES HIS JOURNEY.--THE COUNTRY TOWN.--A MEETING OF TWO LOVERS AFTER LONG ABSENCE AND MUCH SORROW.--CONCLUSION. EUGENE ARAM BOOK I. CHAPTER I. THE VILLAGE.--ITS INHABITANTS.--AN OLD MANORHOUSE: AND AN ENGLISH FAMILY; THEIR HISTORY, INVOLVING A MYSTERIOUS EVENT. “Protected by the divinity they adored, supported by the earth which they cultivated, and at peace with themselves, they enjoyed the sweets of life, without dreading or desiring dissolution.” Numa Pompilius. In the country of--there is a sequestered hamlet, which I have often sought occasion to pass, and which I have never left without a certain reluctance and regret. It is not only (though this has a remarkable spell over my imagination) that it is the sanctuary, as it were, of a story which appears to me of a singular and fearful interest; but the scene itself is one which requires no legend to arrest the traveller’s attention. I know not in any part of the world, which it has been my lot to visit, a landscape so entirely lovely and picturesque, as that which on every side of the village I speak of, you may survey. The hamlet to which I shall here give the name of Grassdale, is situated in a valley, which for about the length of a mile winds among gardens and orchards, laden with fruit, between two chains of gentle and fertile hills.