Holland must surely be murdered, or he would have contrived to
come to her.

And what a glorious recompense she had now for the trusting confidence
with which she had clung to a conviction of his truth! Was it not great,
now, to feel that when he was condemned by others, and when strong and
unimpeachable evidence seemed to be against him, she had clung to him
and declared her faith in his honour, and wept for him instead of
condemning?

Yes, Flora; you were of that order of noble minds that, where once
confidence is given, give it fully and completely, and will not harbour
a suspicion of the faith of the loved one, a happy disposition when
verified, as in this instance, by an answering truthfulness.

But when such a heart trusts not with judgment--when that pure, exalted,
and noble confidence is given to an object unworthy of it--then comes,
indeed, the most fearful of all mental struggles; and if the fond heart,
that has hugged to its inmost core so worthless a treasure, do not break
in the effort to discard it, we may well be surprised at the amount of
fortitude that has endured so much.

Although the admiral had said but little concerning the fearful end
Marchdale had come to, it really did make some impression upon him; and,
much as he held in abhorrence the villany of Marchdale's conduct, he
would gladly in his heart have averted the fate from him that he had
brought upon himself.

On the road to the ruins, he calculated upon taking a different kind of
vengeance.

When they had got some distance from the cottage, Admiral Bell made a
proposal to Henry to be his second while he fought Marchdale, but Henry
would not hear of it for a moment.

"My dear sir," he said, "could I, do you think, stand by and see a
valuable, revered, and a respected life like yours exposed to any hazard
merely upon the chance of punishing a villain? No, no; Marchdale is too
base now to be met in honourable encounter. If he is dealt with in any
way let it be by the laws."

This was reasonable enough, and after some argument the admiral
coincided in it, and then they began to wonder how, without Charles,
they should be able to get an entrance to the dungeons, for it had been
his intention originally, had he not felt so fatigued, to go with them.

As soon, however, as they got tolerably near to the ruins, they saw what
had happened. Neither spoke, but they quickened their pace, and soon
stood close to the mass of stone-work which now