



Produced by David Widger





FRIDA; OR, THE LOVER'S LEAP, A LEGEND OF THE WEST COUNTRY.

By R. D. Blackmore

From "SLAIN BY THE DOONES" by R. D. Blackmore
Copyright: Dodd, Mead And Company, 1895




CHAPTER I.

On the very day when Charles I. was crowned with due
rejoicings--Candlemasday, in the year of our Lord 1626--a loyalty, quite
as deep and perhaps even more lasting, was having its beer at Ley
Manor in the north of Devon. A loyalty not to the king, for the old
West-country folk knew little and cared less about the house that came
over the Border; but to a lord who had won their hearts by dwelling
among them, and dealing kindly, and paying his way every Saturday night.
When this has been done for three generations general and genial respect
may almost be relied upon.

The present Baron de Wichehalse was fourth in descent from that Hugh de
Wichehalse, the head of an old and wealthy race, who had sacrificed his
comfort to his resolve to have a will of his own in matters of reli