obscured. Cruel had been her
sufferings. Crimes too foul to name--but we draw a veil over the
harrowing recital! When the last horrible act was consummated the light
of her soul was put out, and her consciousness extinguished.

To meet thus! A living inhumation, where the body exists but as the
spirit's sepulchre! It were better they had been consigned to oblivion,
shut up and perishing in the dark womb of the grave. The cry of
vengeance had gone up, but was offered in vain for a season. The present
period of existence was not allotted for its fulfilment. It was
permitted to this monster that he should yet triumph unpunished--his
measure of iniquity was not yet full.

The limbs of the unconscious sufferer were pinioned:--the fiend-like
mercy of her tormentors prevented her own hands from becoming the
instruments of her release. De Poininges restored her to freedom; but
alas! she knew it not. The thick veil which Heaven's mercy drew upon her
spirit rendered her insensible to outward impressions. He raised her in
his arms, bearing her forth from that loathed scene of darkness and
disgrace; and when the pure breath of the skies once more blew upon her,
it seemed as though it awakened up a faint glimmer in the dying lamp.
She looked round with eagerness, and De Poininges thought some ray of
intelligence began to brighten, as objects again appeared to develop
their hidden trains of association on the memory; but the light was
mercifully extinguished ere she could discover the fearful realities of
her despair, and she again relapsed into hopeless and utter inanity.

They were still loitering in the little shed, the clerk groaning out a
sad and mournful chant. De Poininges appeared unable to arouse himself
to the exigencies of the moment, when Isabel, wildly waving her torch
towards the entrance, cried--

"To horse--to horse! They will be here presently. Already has the raven
snuffed your carcase--

"'But the bolt whistled through
The heavens blue,
And Sir Lionel lay on the battle-field.'"

She seemed to hearken, as though in apprehension of approaching
footsteps. De Poininges, roused from this dangerous stupor, prepared to
escape ere the prior's emissaries had intelligence of her removal.

They had passed the rivulet in safety, and had just gained the wood
near to where the attendants lay in wait with the horses, when an arrow
whizzed past De Poininges. For him the shaft was intended, but its
destiny w