“Yes. We will leave it at that. And now for home. The way will be damp, but I think we shall survive.” The maid, when she had collected her scattered senses, and had called to mind the situation, was agreeably surprised upon finding the storm at an end, and the moon brightly shining. She picked up her basket, and was soon ready, with the others, to set forth upon the homeward way. They encountered several pools of water over which Percy was obliged to carry the two girls in his arms; but nothing serious interposed to render the return at all unpleasant. Fortunately the path through the woods was broad and open, and lay in such direction that the moonlight fell full upon it for most of the distance. They had reached very near to the southern extremity of the wood, and our hero had just borne his two companions across the last pool, when their ears were saluted by loud cries and shouts of distress and alarm, and a little later the glare of a dozen torches, in full blaze, burst upon them. “Oh, my precious lady, are you alive? Are you safe? Oh! how frightened we have been.” So exclaimed the stout old steward, Michael Dillon, when he had seen his young mistress in the flesh before him. And the glad acclaim of the party, when they knew that Cordelia was alive and well, told how deeply and truly she was loved by the household of the castle. There were twelve men in the party which our adventurers had thus met; and two other parties had gone in other directions; but they were small. The larger number had come this way, because this had been the path hit upon as most likely to be the true one. As soon as old Michael had made sure that all was well with the dear young lady, he ordered two heavily charged muskets to be fired, which had been brought for that purpose, to inform the other parties that the lost one had been found. He next dispatched a swift runner to the castle, with information to the earl of the happy ending of the search; and then, with a curious mingling of joy and pomposity, he issued his order for the homeward march. ------- CHAPTER VIII. LORD OAKLEIGH. On the morning following her strange adventure in the chapel, our heroine arose with the lark, not a whit the worse for her passage through the storm. The old earl had suffered terribly when the tempest and the night had come, and his darling was known to be absent in the forest, or on the wild crag; but when the swift messenger had brought him the glad intelligence of her safety, his fears departed; and when he had finally held her in his arms, and had then held her off that he might gaze into her beautiful face and know that all was well with her, then his joy was great indeed. When it was all so happily over he was almost thankful it had happened, for it had told him over again how dearly he loved her and what a treasure she was to him!