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if he list to press his suit; thy conscience will be | profane that word to ears that you have so insulted? clear, for the maiden has found a protector."

And do you boast that your power averted a senThis speech of Hezekiah's was delivered in a tence that could not have been so intolerable as tone of command, blended with sarcasm. It your mediation in my favor? Answer me one seemed to tell at once upon the Countess and question? do you aspire to be the ruler of this Phœbe the former colored high over her rouge; land, and have you left therein enough of its anand the latter, when she heard of the mighty cient virtue to let me feel that I, an EnglishwoMan, rose to her feet, and folding her hands across man, am free? If so, let me depart from this her beating bosom, stood in a proud and firm at-polluted house, and seek freedom and purity anytitude, that contrasted singularly with the soft and where, so as it be not among patriots or feminine character of her beauty. Puritans!"

The Countess looked irresolutely toward the That defenseless girl looked very grand, and door by which she had entered. After a few almost Pythonic, while she spoke, but poor moment's pause, it opened, and gave admission to Phoebe's heroics were no match for the cold sara good-looking man, somewhat passed the mid-castic, subtle person she addressed. Menaces, dle age; he entered briskly, but paused cautious-punishment, the scaffold itself, cannot extinguish ly, and cast a glance of inquiry at the Countess, enthusiasm, but may ofttimes fan its flame. Ridiwhen he perceived how the room was occupied.cule or apathy are far more fatal to its energies. Lady Carlisle assumed a dignified air, and re- Pym only smiled indulgently as Phoebe spoke, quested, coldly, "to be informed whether Mr. and though his eyes looked warm admiration, Pym had appointed any friends to meet him at his voice was free from all emotion as he replied, her house, as otherwise she could not account for " Very comely art thou thus-thy words are the intrusion of those whom she now found in pretty, but their spirit altogether uncommendable. her private apartments." The person she ad- Now, thou knowest, thou art free as the wind dressed had too much craftiness to appear at a that wanders where it listeth; but it is not seemly loss for counsel: with an audacity which has that a maiden so fair and young should wander often served him at more dangerous need, he through our crowded streets like a roe among the walked up straight to Phœbe, nodding familiarly mountains. We will take that thou art well to Hezekiah as he passed him by, and taking no cared for, my pretty one. But meanwhile I have more notice of Hugo than if he were not in ex-matter of importance for your private ear regardistence. He accosted Phoebe with a cheerful, ing him you wot of." kindly air, and congratulated her on her acquit tance of all share in the late nefarious plot; insinuating at the same time that it was providential he happened to have influence with her judges.

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Yes, my fair mistress," he continued, "it was well to have justice on your side; but sentence, like everything that proceedeth out of the heart of man, is ofttimes uncertain, and requires a favoring and fearless hand to guide it."

The great democrat ceased to speak, and from very habit he watched the effect of his words as a skillful archer that of his arrow. The prestige of his great success; the marvelous power that he exercised over the mind of the many, by making it his own, by anticipating and satisfying its demands; all this had invested his words for years past with a power before which the spirit of man's rivalry was bowed down.

Not so the mind of woman, however, always weaker or mightier than that of her nominal master, and her real slave. Phoebe saw in John Pym, not the great Tribune of the People, and Dictator of the State; she saw in him only an unacceptable lover; a rather elderly, florid, sensual-looking suitor, whose attentions were by no means agreeable to her. His very assumption of power roused her pride; his statement of it, her vanity; she felt all the satisfaction of a martyr in defying him, and all the triumph of a mere beauty in refusing him. Besides, her true lover was standing by; and what woman would not rejoice in the rare opportunity of proving her proud fidelity, not only to her own heart, but to that of him she loved?

The result of all this was as brief as the theory of it is prolonged. When Pym attempted to take her hand, she withdrew it as if from a taint, and her eyes flashed through the tears that now fell no longer, but hung suspended in their brilliant fountains.

"Justice!" she repeated; "and dare you to

So saying, Phoebe's dangerous admirer made a movement to lead her away; but she shrank from him with alarm, and after a rapid glance at Hezekiah's assuring countenance, she exclaimed,

"For my father I fear not; I am assured that he is safe, even from your machinations; and were he not, Heaven forbid that I should prefer his safety to his honor and mine own."

Pym was now growing warm, whether from anger or its reverse; and he exclaimed hastily :

Enough, enough of this; whatever your motives may be for acting tragedy before these godly men, you know that you are among your best friends here. I tell you, you will forever repent not making your father's peace; it may be even now too late; come then, I pray thee, for thine own sake."

So saying, and long accustomed to exercise his own will, he seized Phœbe's shrinking hand, and at the same moment felt a grasp of iron on his own shoulder. Hezekiah had hitherto remained apparently lost in thought, and unobservant of all that passed; but his eye had watched Hugo's anger rising, and anticipated his first movement instantaneously.

The Puritan of politics turned short round, and confronted the Puritan of religion; a world of warring thoughts seemed roused in each, but the angry eyes of the former soon quailed beneath the solemn and earnest gaze of the minister; it was solemn, earnest, and reproachful. Hezekiah was the first to speak:

"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool," said he. "Would thou sacrifice thy high place as a chief elder in Israel for this Susannah? I tell thee thou art in no condition to act in this matter. The maiden hath well spoken, and she is free; and lo! at hand is one hath a right and the power to protect her; let her go forth, and if she come to evil, the evil be on her own head and upon his. Go, young man," he continued, rapidly, "lead forth the maiden, and fear not;

conduct her whithersoever she would go, but re- allies. The evening of her arrival, Pym came t turn not, nor look back."

Before his speech was half finished, Phoebe had moved toward the door. Hugo only lingered for the last word of the address, in hope that it might guide him, but at an impatient glance from Hezekiah, he departed, drawing the door after him. As he descended the stairs hastily, he could hear the Puritan minister's voice stern and high, but the only word that he could catch was something about the prophet Nathan.

The young lovers passed hastily out of the house, traversed the Spring Gardens, and then, for the first time, by the notice she attracted, Phoebe remembered that she wore no hood or wimple. Hugo looked anxiously round him through the darkening mist of evening, and was pausing uncertain what to do, when he heard a cracked voice singing the well-known song:

"Plague take Pym and all his peers,

Hurrah for Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers."

He moved eagerly in that direction, and found Hezekiah's dwarf standing in the shadow of one of the old houses that formed the ancient village of Charing. With him was Phoebe's waitingwoman, who threw herself on the neck of her young mistress in the first joy of meeting her. The little dwarf, however, gave no time for explanations; he impatiently caught Hugo by the corner of his Puritan cloak, and dragged him forward. The women followed, and in a few minutes the little party arrived at Whitehall Stairs, where a boat and two watermen seemed waiting for them. The dwarf impatiently signed to his companions to take their places in the boat, and they were soon swiftly rowing down the river.

All preserved a profound silence, except Hugo and Phoebe, who, wrapped in the same cloak, conversed eagerly until they reached the Tower. When there, they shot in under a dark archway, and were soon admitted through an iron grating into a subterranean passage; there they were received by an official of the Tower; he read by the light of his lantern a paper handed to him by the dwarf, and then motioned to our adventurers to disembark.

see her, professing friendly intentions to put he on her guard against her examination before the Secret Committee on the morrow. He appeare more interested, however, in her than in th plot, and at length Phoebe turned round to seel for Lady Carlisle's protection. That lady ha left the room, and a sudden sense of fear seized upon the poor, defenseless girl. She turned to the window casement, thrown open to the warm evening breeze, and as she grasped the strong branches of a vine upon the outer wall, she fel secure. A fall of forty feet, and rough stones below, would afford her a safe refuge. He visitor saw, and in a moment comprehended her resolution. He seemed to change like magic he was no longer the daring admirer, but an anxious, fatherly sort of friend, soothing, persuading, and even exhorting to virtue and single faith. But Phoebe scarcely heard him; her eyes were strained to perceive some passer-by, as she shrieked for some assistence. Suddenly a deep and stern voice was heard in altercation and reproach in the anteroom, and Hezekiah entered, accompanied by Lady Carlisle. Pym rose at his entrance, and taking a friendly leave of Phœbe, left the room.

The divine' approached her with a considerate and almost deferential air, and sarcastically apologized for Lady Carlisle's absence from her charge. He added that this worthy lady confessed her house to be no fit resting-place for an inexperienced maiden, seeing that it was open at all hours to all the leading statesmen for the good of the cause. But her ladyship had professed her inability to part with her young kinswoman, unless to worthy and responsible hands.

"This thou shalt find betimes to-morrow," he continued; "meantime it is necessary that thou shouldst abide here until thou art cleared of that which they bring against thee. But rest in peace, for this worthy lady will see that thou receivest no wrong. Two tried and godly men have charge of thee, moreover, as their prisoner; and if thy voice be heard again in complaint, woe unto this house!"

The proud Countess listened to this address patiently and in silence, endeavoring afterward, at the same time, to reassure her young kinswoman, and to conciliate her angry friend. Soon afterward, Phoebe was left to such repose as she could find.

They followed their guide and jailer up dark staircases, and at length found themselves in the gallery where Hugo had kept his watch. After waiting for some time, their guide was relieved by the friendly sub-lieutenant, who led Phoebe to the well-known door by which Zillah had The next morning betimes, Lady Carlisle entered the previous day. The sub-lieutenant entered her room, and informed her that certain seemed pleased at the poor girl's reluctance to members of the Secret Committee would have leave Hugo, and whispered that it was only for a speech with her. There were three of them, actime. Then she entered, together with her wo-companied by a clerk. One of the three was adman, and the door closed upon them. Hugo was dressed by the other as Henry Martin. He was conducted to his own chamber; his friendly jailer a joyous-looking, florid, most unpuritanical-lookonly saying to him significantly," By and by." ing person. His first few questions were keen The events of the last few hours had passed and searching, and business-like. When they so rapidly, that Hugo was glad to be left in soli- had been answered with all the simplicity of intude, in order, by thinking over them, to divest nocence, he seemed suddenly to treat the whole them of their dream-like character and indistinct-affair as a jest; at the same time appearing ness. His first care, however, was to divest himself of his unpalatable disguise, and he then sat down to muse over poor Phoebe's hurried narrative, which was as follows:

She had been brought to London with considerable form and respect, and taken straightway to Lady Carlisle's house, where she had pined grievously. That lady had received her with eager civility, as directed by her Roundhead

desirous of prolonging the examination for mere amusement. One of his companions, however, rebuked him for wasting precious time, and hastened him away. He then once more assumed a formal air and tone, and declared the examinant quite free from suspicion, and therefore from all custody. Scarcely had the members departed, when Hugo and Hezekiah entered the house, and so terminated Phoebe's tale.

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ALL was silent in the Tower until the hour of ate-closing, soon after which the friendly subeutenant's knock was heard; the key grated arshly in the door, and he entered. This time he old soldier had brought not only wine, but ipes. He was less formal than before, but omething seemed to weigh upon his mind, of which he could not divest himself for some time. Hugo was busied with his own reflections; and his happy dreams, did not care to anticipate he evil tidings that he felt were coming. The irst bottle, therefore, therefore, discharged its luty in silence. As the sub-lieutenant drew the ork of the second, however, he uttered a deep gh, and though he held up his glass to the light, e looked not at it, but sideways at his young Companion's face.

At length he spoke thus: "This is old wine; I bought it long ago from my predecessor in this office, and I have used it slowly, for I never drink it except with some good comrade, who reminds me of old times. Such come but seldom, and sooth to say, they stay not long."

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"A good omen for me I hope,” said Hugo, cheerfully; for though the wine be good, and its purveyor better, I confess I would more enjoy a bottle of it in other lodgings."

The kind-hearted gaoler fixed a melancholy gaze on his hopeful young companion, who feared that he had given pain, and added: "I feel assured that you, my good friend, would rejoice almost as much as I should-to see me depart."

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That's it, that's it," said the old soldier, hurriedly, "but I did not know how to say it. Yea! (yes I mean) right glad would I be to see thee depart; but-but-there be more means of departure hence than one."

him, though he went through a trial first; and that before him was one who left not his match in England for wisdom of words, and bravery of heart-it was the great and dangerous Earl of Strafford. Now you have been absent from here all day, I know not where; but since your return, there have been hasty messengers from Westminster, each countermanding the other's orders; what they were, I know not; for his honor the Lieutenant remembers old times too well, when I served in the Royal army, to trust me with anything but his orders; and he knows that if the man Charles (His Majesty I mean) himself were here, I'd not betray a trust. Well, as I was saying, I know not what the messengers' orders were; but mine are to have this chamber altered by workmen to-morrow, and I know that it will be empty. I wish to push myself into no man's secrecy, but if you were to tell me whether you went through any trial to-day, I would bid you prepare for the worst: otherwise I understand not this business, for the Secret Committee are not wont to use the scaffold without some sort of trial first held.”

Hugo would fain have replied to the anxious soldier's confidence, but he felt himself bound to secrecy: he told him so much, however, as consisted with honor, and concluded by asking him if he knew anything of Hezekiah's private history.

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The

The Sub-Lieutenant looked cautiously round the apartment, and then drew near the door to listen. Having thus assured himself, he answered in a low voice, Well, I wot I knew himtoo much and too little. He is the only man on earth that ever made me fear-I know not what. Ay, 'fore George, I am not alone in that. Secret Committee that blusters bravely against kings and nobles is quiet enough before this mys terious man; and well they may, for, with the assistance of the Book of Isaiah, his wild and powerful talk would raise half London upon thein in an hour's discourse. He comes and goes where he lists, but specially where shot and steel are most at work; and they tell me, that when he preaches from a drum-head to the saints, they fight like so many devils, and ever carry all beThe speaker's voice became solemn as he ut- fore them. Well, sir, he'll walk into the Lord tered these words, and as he ended he cast his General's own quarters after the battle, perhaps, eyes on the ground, wishing to spare Hugo the and make him write the 'true relation,' as they pain of being observed, as he heard this ominous call it, of the fight; and then he'll go out upon notice. His delicacy was unnecessary, however. the field, and preach all night to the dying Young as he was, my brother had long prepared soldiers. Before next sunset, he will be with the himself to die; he had looked at death's hideous Secret Committee, or passing all our sentinels like disguises until he had seen through them, and discovered the true comfort and repose that lay beneath. Nevertheless, it was a solemn sentence for him to hear, and a radiant vision of young Phœbe in her beauty flashed across his imagination. But this he sternly put by, and addressed his gaoler in a scarcely altered voice :

"I understand you, kind, good man; and now you see, you need not fear to tell me more. When is it to be, and how do they dare to execute a prisoner taken in open battle?"

a ghost, and closeted with the Lieutenant of this Tower. But, most of all, he seems to have bewitched your old prisoner, with the heathen name. Sir Janus, they say, gave him shelter in old times, when he was persecuted; and he can now do anything with his old protector, except make him an out and out Commonwealth mar, like himself."

The Sub-Lieutenant paused, and seemed to be contemplating in silence the character he described. At length he resumed, in reply to a question from Hugo.

"Nay, nay," said the Lieutenant, apparently much relieved, and reassured by Hugo's firmness; "I said not when, or of any surety; but thy stoutness entitles thee to know all. You" see the Cavalier who occupied this room before you went out to the scaffold, and at short notice, for they called him a spy; so did the man before

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'Why, where he comes from no one seems to know; but," he added in a low and fearful tone, some say he comes from the dead, and some that he has sold his right hand to Satan, for no one ever saw him remove it (if he has one) from his cassock! Sure I am that sometimes he looks

as if he ought to be in his coffin, and sometimes of their officers, because two of the godly have he seems as if he had the life and strength of a escaped, notwithstanding some foolish parole. dozen men in him." Thou art one of the freed."

"Well," said Hugo, "be he man or fiend, he once saved my life, and he has proved my friend this day; I scarcely think, therefore, that he would lend himself to my destruction."

"Be not too sure," said the old soldier, shaking his head and looking very grim. He doesn't

move after the laws or customs of this world. I
verily believe that if he thought it would ad-
vance the cause one dagger's length, he would
fling his mother from the top of the White Tower
as pleasantly as I would crush this empty glass.
Oh, if thou hadst heard him preach, as I have
done, on the goodly text, 'Cut off thy right hand
and cast it from thee,' it's little thou couldst say
that a head or so would stand in his way; no, not
if it were that of anointed Majesty itself."
"Why, you would make him out little better
than a papistical Jesuit,” said Hugo, interested in
spite of himself on his behalf.

Hugo knew not how much the thought of approaching death had chilled his blood, until he found it rushing warmly through his veins once more; and with it came thoughts of Phoebe. The Puritan watched his countenance with keen but calm scrutiny, and soon added,

"To-morrow thou must depart, and before day, to join the unhappy, godless camp of Charles Stuart. Surely thou hast seen its iniquities, and the swift ruin that impends over the oppressor. Turn thee, then, whilst it be yet time, and join the standard of the Lord. Young, and brave, and true as thou art, thou mayest thyself be the Chosen One-that Gideon-whom alone our mighty men are waiting for. A roused people, with souls lately enslaved, and bodies all in pawn to a tyrant for liberty to live, await thee. There is, with us, no mammon-wealth, no courtly honor to reward thy noble sacrifice, or damnify it with "There be Jesuits, my young friend," replied one selfish stain. Toil, danger, ignominy, perthe Lieutenant, "in all creeds and in all profes-haps death, await thee; and instead-only a peosions; if by that word you mean men who scruple not as to means, so that the end be sufficiently justifiable in their eyes, or tempting in its execution. This Hezekiah, however

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Peace, babbler!" said the stern voice that the poor Lieutenant feared so much; the door was thrown open; Hezekiah strode into the room, and the Lieutenant of the Tower; who had accompanied him, remained outside, in a respectful attitude. Poor Archer started to his feet, and his look inquired fearfully whether he had been overheard. If he had, his unwelcome visitor did not condescend to notice it; he merely motioned him to retire; the door clanked violently behind him, and poor Hugo once more found himself alone with the Puritan divine.

Like a crowd of people passing through one narrow door, this person's thoughts struggled forth so eagerly, that they often produced a temporary stoppage of each other; but no outward sign of embarrassment appeared on his calm dark face, as with his eyes alone he seemed to inquire whether he might trust the imprisoned royalist. Hugo for some time imitated the silence of his visitor, whom he understood so little, that he feared to address him.

At length the Puritan spoke :-"Thou hast heard," he said, "what the vulgar speech is concerning me-poor simple worm that I am what thinkest thou?"

"I think of you," replied Hugo, "only as one who saved my life long ago, and who this day conferred a yet greater favor on me. But, before I say more, let me entreat you to use your great influence that this worthy sub-lieutenant do not suffer through his kindness to me; he is still faithful to your service."

"It is known that he is so," said Hezekiah, drily; "nevertheless he is discharged from his present office, to command a company of volunteers in the field; but he hath a hundred pieces given him for refusing to surrender his trust to those traitors of the plot. Now for thine own case he hath well said that thy place will be empty on the morrow, for thou wilt be free. The Lord General, who too much loveth to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, hath been won over by high-sounding words of heathen chivalry, to give up to the malignants two

ple's gratitude, and perhaps a martyr's crown. There is a witness in thy soul for the truth of the great cause: half stilled by doubt, and disguised by prejudices, thy nobler instinct still tells thee it is true. Thy cause, what is it? The pleasure of a fantastically crowned man, and the fantastic will and the formal creed of his servile and prelatic favorites. Our cause is that for which martyrs and heroes in all times have proudly died-the salvation, temporal and eternal, of the people."

Thus far the Puritan had spoken, with the restrained voice and manner of the practiced orator; but he then warmed with his own words, caught fire from the velocity of his own thoughts, and burst forth into one of those extraordinary harangues by which he had so often moved the people, and even senators, to his will. Unlike many of his fellow preachers, his enthusiasın was sincere, and of lofty pitch; while to all the fearfulness of Hugh Peters, and the vehemence of Vicars, he united the skill of the practiced rhetorician, and the graces of the scholar. Many of the Puritans, when carried away by their subject, forgot or abandoned the scriptural phraseology of their common conversation; but this man was so thoroughly imbued with the style and thoughts of the sacred writers, that his language became more biblical in proportion as it was unstudied: he would have been as easily understood by the warriors who followed Joshua or Gideon, as by the citizens whom he invested with all the attributes of Israel; he might sometimes have been supposed addressing the men of ancient Jerusalem, instead of those of the modern Jewry.

Hugo listened in silent wonder and admiration to the words of the Puritan, as they rolled forth in all the power and pomp of impassioned oratory. His own imaginative and ardent spirit caught up the inspiration of the preacher, and he could himself have continued in the same strain when the sonorous voice to which he listened had become silent. Nevertheless, he only felt as a spectator of a play: he could not understand that a proposition to turn traitor had been actually made to him; it seemed impossible. So he did not even feel offended.

After a few minutes' pause, to let the tran

sition become less abrupt, he replied that he was grateful for the good opinion, and the interest that the preacher expressed concerning him, and that he regretted he was unable to answer arguments 80 eloquently and powerfully urged.

visible. There sat the old Baronet, shading with a trembling hand the eyes, that strove to penetrate the darkness and ascertain who stood before him. Hugo paused awhile, unwilling to intrude himself abruptly, even on his friends; but the dwarf precipitated his movement by growling out angrily:

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"At least," he added, "I am unable to answer them here, and with my weak voice; but in the field, and with my heart's best blood, my answer How now, Sir Cavallero, hast thou got naught shall be always ready. The very art and strength to say or do, after periling the preacher's credit of your learned controversy proves with how and my skin in bringing thee hither? The man much difficulty you arrived at your conclusion to they call Lieutenant of the Tower will soon rebel: my loyalty is a simple faith, in which-arrive, and if thou art not found in thine own come weal, come woe-I live and die." cell we shall have pretty roysterings."

The Puritan gazed on the young Cavalier with a mixture of scorn, pity, and admiration: "Thou art possessed by some evil spirit," he exclaimed, "that, like the lying prophet unto Ahab, hath power to assume the garb of truth to lead thee to destruction. Yet, verily, my heart yearns toward thee, and I would snatch thee as a brand from the burning. I tell thee, even now, I see the end of thy brief career, ere this evil warfare is accomplished-not in the open field, with banners waving, and shouts resounding to cheer thy dying heart; but hemmed in by scorching walls and pitiless flames, vainly fighting for another moment of gasping life even thus hopeless and helpless shalt thou perish for thine evil cause!" So be it!" was Hugo's sole reply; he spoke solemnly, for the preacher's voice and manner gave his menace the air of prophecy, but he spoke firmly, as one who was left, or would accept, no choice.

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The preacher stood long and thoughtfully: some traces of emotion were just visible, and then repressed upon his sternly expressive countenance. At length he spoke :

"We part, then, for the last time. I have wished thee well, and would fain save thee from the coming doom. Thou hast chosen otherwise. But thou shalt behold her whom thou lovest, for thy love is the best part of thine unregenerate nature. Thou shalt see her sister, too, whom I may not see, and thus you shall say unto her 'At midnight, and not at morn, shall ye depart; even as Paul was sent down to Cæsarea, when the Chief Captain feared for his people.' And now for thine own part, if thou returnest unto the home of thy fathers, tarry not there; but haste thee straightway to thy people, and escape the coming judgment."

Having thus spoken, the preacher strode to the door, knocked three times, and was answered by the grunting voice of the dwarf, who turned the key and flung open the door. Hugo followed at a sign, and almost immediately afterward found himself ushered into the room by which he had stood sentry; the dwarf entering with him, and crouching at the door as soon as he had closed it.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Hope thou sad lovers' only friend!
Thou way that may'st dispute it with the end!
For love, I fear's a fruit that does delight
The taste itself less than the smell and sight.

COWLEY.

THE prison apartment in which Hugo now found himself was considerably larger than his own; and it was so dimly lighted by a single cresset lamp that objects in the center alone were

Hugo immediately advanced, but was met by Phoebe, who laid her hand upon his arm, and drew him into one of the shaded recesses of the chamber.

Sir Janus followed them with his eyes, and exclaimed, as if to bystanders, "I call every one to witness that this Cavalier is here with no privity of mine. If his presence here be not some snare to entrap an innocent old man, I conjure ye to have him removed."

The dwarf appeared to enjoy the prisoner's uneasiness immensely; he wriggled himself over to the Baronet's chair, and made him start as he felt his ankles clasped in the dwarfish but fat fingers of his visitor.

Start hot!" exclaimed the little man, "I was but taking thy measure for leg-irons-those of poor Tomkins will suit thee well, and he will want them no more, as he was hanged yesterday. Now be still, wilt thou? else will I give the alarm, and let the garrison know of thy Cavaliero conspirator."

The prisoner started to his feet terror-stricken, but he was too nervous to speak. He moved toward Hugo in order probably to expel him by main force, when a noble form rose before him and interposed; then in a mournful but sweet tone came Zillah's words:

"Father, my father! what wouldst thou do? Bethink thee that this apartment is thy home, and must show thy hospitality, especially to one of the few old friends that remain from happier times."

"True, true!" said the old man, pausing irreso lutely, and then sinking back into his chair. Whatever might have been his other pretensions, his hospitality had been always genuine; as such perhaps he was the more proud of it. "True, as to that," he repeated after some thought, "but Heaven grant that thou, too, art not plotting against me in furtherance of some patriotic or godly scheme. And this creature, too," he added, spurning the dwarf with his foot, "must I also submit to his intrusion and his insolence?"

"Turn me out, turn me out!" screamed the dwarf, rubbing his hands and chuckling with delight. "Turn me out, I ask no better: and my pretty mistress here will fetch me back-aye, tall and beautiful as she is, with all her pride, she'll fetch me back."

And the dwarf leered hideously into Zillah's anxious eyes.

"Yea, father," she exclaimed, "let him too abide here for a little season; to-morrow and ever after, I trust, thou shalt choose thine own company, when we are free from the snares that now encompass us."

The dwarf leered still more hideously and sarcastically, and screamed "keek, keek." Sir Janus looked up from the dwarf to his stately

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