The event of the trial, and the restoration of the Percy family to their property, were heard with transports of joy by the old tenantry. They had not needed the effect of contrast, to make them love and feel the value of their good landlord; but certainly Sir Robert Percy’s tyranny, and all that he had made them suffer for their obstinate fidelity to the _old branch_, had heightened and fortified their attachment. It was now their turn to glory in that honest obstinacy, and with the strong English sense of justice, they triumphed in having the rightful owners restored to their estate, and to the seat of their ancestors. As the Percy family crossed the well-known bridge at the end of the village, those bells, which had sounded so mournfully, which had been muffled when they quitted their home, now rang out a merry triumphant peal--and it was rung by the hands of the very same persons who had formerly given that proof of attachment to him in his adversity.--Emotion as strong now seized Mr. Percy’s heart. At the same spot he jumped out of the carriage, and by the same path along which he had hastened to stop the bell-ringers, lest they should ruin themselves with Sir Robert, he now hastened to see and thank these honest, courageous people. In passing through the village, which had been freshly swept and garnished the people, whom, he remembered to have seen in tears following the carriage at their departure, were now crowding to their doors with faces bright with smiles. Hats that had never stirred, and backs that had never bent for the _usurper_, were now eager with low bows to mark their proud respect to the true man. There were no noisy acclamations, for all were touched. The voices of the young children, however, were heard, who, as their mothers held them up in their arms, to see the landlord, of whom they had heard so much, offered their little nosegays as the open carriage passed, and repeated blessings on those, on whom from their cradles, they had heard blessings bestowed by their parents. The old steward stood ready at the park-gate to open it for his master. His master and the ladies put their hands out of the carriage to shake hands with him, but he could not stand it. He just touched his master’s hand. Tears streamed down his face, and turning away without being able to say one word, he hid himself in the porter’s lodge. As they drove up to the house, they saw standing on the steps waiting--and long had he been waiting there, for the first sound of the carriage--Johnson, the butler, who had followed the family to the Hills, and had served them in their fallen fortunes--Johnson was now himself. Before the hall-door, wide open to receive them, he stood, with the livery-servants in due order.