in your own hands--a single
condition complied with, and, so far as I am concerned, they are yours.
Where is he gone--where secreted! What is the route which you have
advised him to take? Speak, and to the point, Lucy Munro, for I may not
longer be trifled with."

"He is safe, and by this time, I hope, beyond your reach. I tell you
thus much, because I feel that it can not yield you more satisfaction
than it yields to me."

"It is in vain, woman, that you would trifle with and delay me; he can
not escape me in the end. All these woods are familiar to me, in night
as in day, as the apartment in which we stand; and towards this boy I
entertain a feeling which will endue me with an activity and energy as
unshrinking in the pursuit as the appetite for revenge is keen which
gives them birth and impulse. I hate him with a sleepless, an
unforgiving hate, that can not be quieted. He has dishonored me in the
presence of these men--he has been the instrument through which I bear
this badge, this brand-stamp on my cheek--he has come between my passion
and its object--nay, droop not--I have no reference now to you, though
you, too, have been won by his insidious attractions, while he gives you
no thought in return--he has done more than this, occasioned more than
this, and wonder not that I had it in my heart at one moment to-night to
put my dagger into your bosom, since through you it had been defrauded
of its object. But why tremble--do you not tell me he is safe?"

"I do! and for this reason I tremble. I tremble with joy, not fear. I
rejoice that through my poor help he is safe. I did it all. I sought
him--hear me, Guy Rivers, for in his safety I feel strong to speak--I
sought him even in his chamber, and felt no shame--I led the way--I
guided him through all the avenues of the house--when you ascended the
stairs we stood over it in the closet which is at its head. We beheld
your progress--saw, and counted every step you took; heard every word
you uttered; and more than once, when your fiend soul spoke through your
lips, in horrible threatenings, my hand arrested the weapon with which
the youth whom you now seek would have sent you to your long account,
with all your sins upon your head. I saved you from his blow; not
because you deserved to live, but because, at that moment, you were too
little prepared to die."

It would be difficult to imagine--certainly impossible to describe, the
rage of Rivers, as, with an excited spir