They were allowed, however, to exercise their juvenile restlessness by
running up and down the hall, behind the seats of the elder members of
the family, with the privilege of occasionally making excursions into
one or two small apartments which opened from it, and gave excellent
opportunity to play at hide-and-seek. This night, however, the
children seemed not disposed to avail themselves of their privilege of
visiting these dark regions, but preferred carrying on their gambols
in the vicinity of the light.
In the meanwhile, Alice of Avenel, sitting close to an iron
candlestick, which supported a misshapen torch of domestic
manufacture, read small detached passages from a thick clasped volume,
which she preserved with the greatest care. The art of reading the
lady had acquired by her residence in a nunnery during her youth, but
she seldom, of late years, put it to any other use than perusing this
little volume, which formed her whole library. The family listened to
the portions which she selected, as to some good thing which there was
a merit in hearing with respect, whether it was fully understood or
no. To her daughter, Alice of Avenel had determined to impart their
mystery more fully, but the knowledge was at that period attended with
personal danger, and was not rashly to be trusted to a child.
The noise of the romping children interrupted, from time to time, the
voice of the lady, and drew on the noisy culprits the rebuke of Elspeth.
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