able, upon
which lay glasses, bottles, and the other accompaniments of a drinking
party. Two or three chairs were placed about the table, irregularly,
as if hastily abandoned by their occupants. A single glance satisfied
me that the figure was that of my French attendant. She was fast
asleep, having, probably, drank deeply. There was something malignant
and ghastly in the calmness of this bad woman's features, dimly
illuminated as they were by the flickering blaze of the candle. A
knife lay upon the table, and the terrible thought struck me--"Should
I kill this sleeping accomplice in the guilt of the murderer, and thus
secure my retreat?" Nothing could be easier; it was but to draw the
blade across her throat, the work of a second.

An instant's pause, however, corrected me. "No," thought I, "the God
who has conducted me thus far through the valley of the shadow of
death, will not abandon me now. I will fall into their hands, or I
will escape hence, but it shall be free from the stain of blood; His
will be done." I felt a confidence arising from this reflection, an
assurance of protection which I cannot describe. There were no other
means of escape, so I advanced, with a firm step and collected mind,
to the window. I noiselessly withdrew the bars, and unclosed the
shutters; I pushed open the casement, and without waiting to look
behind me, I ran with my utmost speed, scarcely feeling the ground
beneath me, down the avenue, taking care to keep upon the grass which
bordered it. I did not for a moment slacken my speed, and I had now
gained the central point between the park-gate and the mansion-house.
Here the avenue made a wider circuit, and in order to avoid delay, I
directed my way across the smooth sward round which the carriageway
wound, intending, at the opposite side of the level, at a point which
I distinguished by a group of old birch trees, to enter again upon the
beaten track, which was from thence tolerably direct to the gate. I
had, with my utmost speed, got about half way across this broad flat,
when the rapid tramp of a horse's hoofs struck upon my ear. My heart
swelled in my bosom, as though I would smother. The clattering of
galloping hoofs approached; I was pursued; they were now upon the
sward on which I was running; there was not a bush or a bramble to
shelter me; and, as if to render escape altogether desperate, the
moon, which had hitherto been obscured, at this moment shone forth
with a broad, clear