CHAPTER VIII.

He was a lovely youth, I guess; The panther in the wilderness Was not so fair as he; And when he chose to sport and play, No dolphin ever was so gay, Upon the tropic sea. WORDSWORTH. The light foot of Mordaunt Mertoun was not long of bearing him to Jarlshof. He entered the house hastily, for what he himself had observed that morning, corresponded in some degree with the ideas which Swertha's tale was calculated to excite. He found his father, however, i…