uld have been reasonably expected. But
swiftly as, for those slow times, he pushed on, it is necessary I should
anticipate, by a brief period, his arrival at his destination, in order
to put the reader in possession of the circumstances which had occasioned
the hurried and pressing message he had received.

Two days before, as Lady Compton and her sister, who had been paying a
visit to Mrs. Arlington at the Grange, were returning home towards nine
o'clock in the evening, they observed, as the carriage turned a sharp
angle of the road leading through Compton Park, a considerable number of
lighted lanterns borne hurriedly to and fro in various directions, by
persons apparently in eager but bewildered pursuit of some missing
object. The carriage was stopped, and in answer to the servants'
inquiries, it was replied that Major Brandon's crazy niece had escaped
from her uncle's house; and although traced by the snow-tracks as far as
the entrance to the park, had not yet been recovered. Mrs. Brandon had
offered a reward of ten pounds to whoever should secure and reconduct her
home; hence the hot pursuit of the fugitive, who, it was now supposed,
must be concealed in the shrubberies. Rumors regarding this unfortunate
young lady, by no means favorable to the character of her relatives as
persons of humanity, had previously reached Lady Compton's ears; and she
determined to avail herself, if possible, of the present opportunity to
obtain a personal interview with the real or supposed lunatic. The men
who had been questioned were informed that only the castle servants could
be allowed to search for the missing person, either in the park or
shrubberies; and that if there, she would be taken care of, and restored
to her friends in the morning. The coachman was then ordered to drive on;
but the wheels had not made half-a-dozen revolutions, when a loud shout
at some distance, in the direction of the park, followed by a succession
of piercing screams, announced the discovery and capture of the object of
the chase. The horses were urged rapidly forward; and ere more than a
minute had elapsed, the carriage drew up within a few yards of the hunted
girl and her captors. The instant it stopped, Clara Brandon, liberating
herself by a frenzied effort from the rude grasp in which she was held by
an athletic young man, sprang wildly towards it, and with passionate
intreaty implored mercy and protection. The young man, a son of Mrs.
Brandon's by