oached the horsemen. 'Dispatch--dispatch!'

'The saddle will be ready in a minute,' replied the man who was buckling
it, at whom Barnardine now swore again, for his negligence, and Emily,
calling feebly for help, was hurried towards the horses, while the
ruffians disputed on which to place her, the one designed for her not
being ready. At this moment a cluster of lights issued from the great
gates, and she immediately heard the shrill voice of Annette above
those of several other persons, who advanced. In the same moment, she
distinguished Montoni and Cavigni, followed by a number of ruffian-faced
fellows, to whom she no longer looked with terror, but with hope, for,
at this instant, she did not tremble at the thought of any dangers, that
might await her within the castle, whence so lately, and so anxiously
she had wished to escape. Those, which threatened her from without, had
engrossed all her apprehensions.

A short contest ensued between the parties, in which that of Montoni,
however, were presently victors, and the horsemen, perceiving that
numbers were against them, and being, perhaps, not very warmly
interested in the affair they had undertaken, galloped off, while
Barnardine had run far enough to be lost in the darkness, and Emily was
led back into the castle. As she re-passed the courts, the remembrance
of what she had seen in the portal-chamber came, with all its horror, to
her mind; and when, soon after, she heard the gate close, that shut
her once more within the castle walls, she shuddered for herself, and,
almost forgetting the danger she had escaped, could scarcely think, that
any thing less precious than liberty and peace was to be found beyond
them.

Montoni ordered Emily to await him in the cedar parlour, whither he soon
followed, and then sternly questioned her on this mysterious affair.
Though she now viewed him with horror, as the murderer of her aunt, and
scarcely knew what she said in reply to his impatient enquiries, her
answers and her manner convinced him, that she had not taken a voluntary
part in the late scheme, and he dismissed her upon the appearance of his
servants, whom he had ordered to attend, that he might enquire further
into the affair, and discover those, who had been accomplices in it.

Emily had been some time in her apartment, before the tumult of her mind
allowed her to remember several of the past circumstances. Then, again,
the dead form, which the curtain in the portal-ch