bleness strongly encountered, she
freed herself from his hold with an erect pride of manner, which gave a
sweet finish to the momentary display which she had made of womanly
weakness. Her voice, as she called upon him to follow her into the
passage, was again firm in a moment, and pervaded by a cold ease which
seemed to him artificial:--

"There is but little time left you now, sir, for escape: it were
criminal not to use it. Follow me boldly, but cautiously--I will lead
the way--the house is familiar to me, in night and day, and there must
be no waste of time."

He would have resisted this conduct, and himself taken the lead in the
advance; but, placing her small and trembling hand upon his arm, she
insisted upon the course she had prescribed, and in a manner which he
did not venture to resist. Their steps were slow into the open space
which, seeming as an introduction to, at the same time separated the
various chambers of the dwelling, and terminated in the large and
cumbrous stairway which conducted to the lower story, and to which their
course was now directed. The passage was of some length, but with
cautious tread they proceeded in safety and without noise to the head of
the stairway, when the maiden, who still preserved the lead, motioned
him back, retreating herself, as she did so, into the cover of a small
recess, formed by the stairs, which it partially overhung, and
presenting a doubtful apology for a closet. Its door hung upon a broken
and single hinge, unclosed--leaving, however, so small an aperture, that
it might be difficult to account for their entrance.

There, amid the dust and mystery of time-worn household trumpery, old
saddles, broken bridles, and more than one dismembered harness, they
came to a pause, and were enabled now to perceive the realization in
part of her apprehensions. A small lantern, the rays of light from which
feebly made their way through a single square in front, disclosed to the
sight the dim forms of the two assassins, moving upward to the
contemplated deed of blood.

The terrors of Lucy, as she surveyed their approach, were great; but,
with a mind and spirit beyond those commonly in the possession of her
sex, she was enabled to conquer and rise above them; and, though her
heart beat with a thick and hurried apprehension, her soul grew calmer
the more closely approached the danger. Her alarm, to the mind of Ralph,
was now sufficiently justified, as, looking through a crevice