nough to walk, and she must find
her brother in the forest, and place herself beneath his care.

The old servant approved the plan. She herself could find a refuge
at Trevlyn Chase; but that house would be no shelter for her young
mistress. Her father's authority would be enough to carry her back
into captivity; and what her fate would be, were she to have
escaped him once and be again brought back, was a thought to
shudder at.

"I must go back to Cuthbert," she said to herself, as she looked
over the fair landscape, and thought longingly of the cool, dim
woods, and the free life of the forest. Her own home was nothing
now but a prison house. She knew that if she presented herself
before her father sound and whole, she would at once be placed
under some close restraint that would effectually hinder her from
carrying out her plan. He would sooner kill her, as she verily
believed, than permit her such liberty as might enable her to meet
by accident or design any member of the household from the Chase.
If she were to succeed in her escape, the attempt must be made
whilst her father still believed her too feeble to stir from her
bed; after that she would be too closely watched for it to be
possible.

The old woman entered into this scheme with alacrity and zeal.
Petronella kept to her bed; and when Nicholas Trevlyn demanded by
signs how it fared with his daughter, he was answered by solemn
shakings of the head. If he mounted the stairs to see with his own
eyes how she was, he saw her lying upon the bed with closed eyes
and wan face, and would smile with an evil smile and mutter that
she was safe enough now--safe enough now.

Yet each day hope and the good food the shrewd old woman contrived
to provide for her did its work upon Petronella's frail body, and
she grew better every hour. Indeed, after some while she felt
stronger than she had done for many weeks before her illness; and
in due time even the fond old woman began to see that there was no
need to postpone longer the scheme of escape.

It was a simple little scheme, yet one which promised success if
carefully carried out. Nicholas Trevlyn was accustomed to take
night by night a posset of mead, brewed in some particular way by
Martha. She was, upon the night planned as the one for the escape
of Petronella, to add to this posset some drops of a concoction
prepared by herself from herbs, which would infallibly produce
sound and deep sleep within two hours. The m