ured
to strike. A wild cry broke from me; while at the instant, with a crash,
the door of the room fell forward, torn from its hinges. A heavy foot
approached, and the blow of a strong arm felled Crofts to the earth,
where he lay stunned and senseless. In a second I was on my feet. My
senses were reeling and uncertain; but I could see that it was Darby
who came to my rescue, and who was now binding a sash round my wound to
stanch the blood.

"Now for it,--life or death 's on it now," said he, in a low but
distinct whisper. "Wipe the blood from your face, and be calm as you can
when you're passing the sentry."

"Is he--" I dared not speak the word as I looked on the still motionless
body that lay before me.

Darby raised one arm, and as he let it go, it fell heavily on the
ground. He stooped down, and placing his lips near the mouth, endeavored
to ascertain if he breathed; and then, jumping to his feet, he seized my
arm, and, in a tone I shall never forget, he said, "It 's over now!"

I tottered back as he spoke. The horrible thought of murder,--the
frightful sense of crime, the heaviest, the blackest that can stain the
heart of man,--stunned me. My senses reeled; and as I looked on that
corpse stretched at my feet, I would have suffered my every bone to be
broken on the rack, to see one quiver of life animate its rigid members.

Meanwhile Darby was kneeling down, and seemed to search for something
beside the body. "Ah! right! Come now," said he; "we must be far from
this before daybreak. And it 's lucky if we We the means to do it."

I moved onward like one walking ib a dream when horrible images surround
him and dreadful thoughts are ever crowding fast; but where, amid all,
some glimmering sense of hope sustains him, and he half feels that the
terrors will pass away, and his soul be calm and tranquil once more.
What is it? what has happened? was the ever-rising question, as I heard
Darby groping his way along the dark gallery and the darker stairs.

"Be steady, now," said he, in a whisper; "we 're at the gate."

"Who comes there?" cried the sentry.

"A friend!" said Darby, in a feigned voice, answering for me, while he
dropped behind me.

The heavy bolts were withdrawn, and I felt the cold air of the streets
on my cheek.

"Where to, now?" said I, with a dreamy oonsciousness that some place of
safety must be sought, without well knowing why or wherefore.

"Lean on me, and don't speak," said Darby. "If you