the cold marble, while more than one man, following them from the house, endeavoured to drag them from their place of refuge; uttering at the same time such blasphemous jests as filled my whole soul with horror. The next moment the figure of a man darkened the passage; and he, probably seeing the outline of my form, came rapidly forward, and attempted to seize me: but I sprang by him and flew along the cloisters, by which (as I have before described) the cimetière was surrounded. There, drawing myself within the shade of one of the clustered pillars, I trusted that I was unobserved, though my heart beat with such violence that I could hardly distinguish the tumult within from that which was without: for the clamours of the frantic mob, and the reverberation of heavy strokes (for they were beating down the doors, and tearing up the images, in every part of the house) came rushing along the galleries, and sweeping round the cloisters, with a force so deafening and appalling as absolutely to deprive me, for some moments, of my senses. But a comparative stillness soon followed; when I was able to recollect myself again.

The ruffians who had attacked the terrified sisters at the foot of the cross had been called off to some other work of mischief; and there was, as it were, a pause within the cimetière;—and truly it was a solemn scene which I then beheld in the fitful light of the moon; as the clouds passed over the disk of the planet, at one moment revealing every object, at another shrouding all in a dubious light, in which only the white veils of the sisters who were clinging to the cross could be distinguished. I was in agonies for my Pauline, and ready to run all hazards in order that I might again rejoin her, and I was in the very act of leaving my place of refuge for this purpose, when suddenly several voices became distinct, as if proceeding from persons who had separated themselves from the mass of the people; and shortly afterward various figures of men appeared in the court, and one, advancing in the direction where I stood, discerned my figure, and extended a hand to seize me. Fear made me active, and I ran from him, crossing the court, and making a desperate plunge at a wooden door which, as I well knew, opened into a large wide outhouse, where the bier, the spades, and mattocks, and all other apparatus and instruments belonging to the

burying-ground were always kept. The door of this gloomy place, being somewhat mouldy, gave way immediately yet not so suddenly but that the individual who was pursuing me had obtained a full sight of my figure; and I was immediately aware that although I had pulled the door after me, he had opened it, and was actually in the dark chamber with me.

CHAPTER VIII.

DELIVERANCE.

THOUGH I feared to stumble over the bier, yet I hastened onward, and presently saw a light through the chinks of something I took to be a door at the farther end. This my place of refuge was, in fact, a charnelhouse, into which many mouldering bones of those who had died perhaps ages past had, from time to time, been thrown by the grave-digger. But, having reached the door at the farthest end, I was unable to move it, though it shook in my hand; and I was on the point of giving myself up to despair, not knowing what indignity might be offered me next by the man of whose near approach I was aware, when a voice, which I instantly knew to be that of an educated person, though the accent was foreign, uttered these words: "The lady of the knotted veil has no reason to fear the person who now addresses her."

"Heaven be praised!" I exclaimed ; " which has sent me a deliverer in my hour of utmost need;" and I extended my hand to the stranger with a feeling of that entire confidence which I never had reason to think misplaced.

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Deliverer, lady!" he answered;

too soon.

66 we must not exult How are we to get out of this place?"-and he struck the door before mentioned with such force that he made it shake violently, but it did not give way. "This will not do, I fear," he said; "could we but gain the garden?"

I proposed that we should return, and endeavour to

reach it in another direction, and I explained to him my anxiety for my dear Pauline.

"Be easy, madam," he replied; "she is safe:" but before he could add more, the glare as of a torch shone into the chamber, revealing the spades and mattocks, and heaps of remains, together with the bier in the centre of the apartment, of which the shade, accurately traced on the sandy pavement, reached the place on which we stood. By this same light I saw the person with whom I was so strangely associated, and had not a doubt that I was with the brother of poor Clarice; but he did not mention his sister, and I also refrained from the painful subject, although, had I at that moment been willing to enter upon it, I should not have had time; for he suddenly seized my hand, having observed a way to the left, in the farthest corner of the apartment, to which he drew me hastily, and had hardly brought me within its shade, when the persons who bore the torch entered by the entrance from the burying-ground.

Immediately within the archway in which we had taken refuge was a narrow winding stone staircase, up which we ran, and stood a moment to listen, with intense anxiety, to what was passing below. We heard many ruffian voices holding converse with each other, and mingling their vile discourse (for vile indeed it was in every respect) with many blasphemous expressions and disgusting jests.

"She is not here, Jansen," said one of these persons; "this is a charnel-house, and we run the chance of awakening the pestilence if we make a stir among these bones. If the bailiff desires her company he may look for her himself; that is, if the search must needs be carried on in this charnel-house.”

"What say you,” said another, “of throwing a torch under yon bier?-if it take fire it will burn out the bad air. Faugh! faugh! the place scents of death."

We heard no more, nor did we stay to ascertain whether the proposal of igniting the bier were assented to or not; but going softly up another round of the stairs, we presently found ourselves before a grated opening or window, beyond which were tall trees.

"I know where I am now," said my companion; "could we but escape through this window we should be in the forest. I am acquainted with all the environs of this place," he added; "I have examined them too

often to be mistaken, though I never actually discovered this opening; it is not so high from the ground but that we might get out. Now is our moment; the wretches are gone from below;" and instantly grasping the bars, he succeeded, after several violent efforts, in dislodging some of them, throwing them out on the ground below, with a quantity of plaster and stone, and leaving an opening quite sufficient to permit us to force ourselves through: which opening being effected, "Now, lady," he said, "for courage and activity!" and so saying, he extended his body through the breach, and seized the bough of the nearest tree; the next moment he had swung himself to the ground, and stood looking up to me from below.

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"The distance is small, lady," he said; and he directed me how to manage my escape through the aperture, promising to receive me in such a way as to break my fall. You are light, lady; do not fear. Remember that, strange as your situation may appear to be, you are with one who feels himself bound to serve you with the last drop of his blood, and to treat you with all honour and reverence."

There was not time for me to reply; I had no doubt of the honour of the person in whom I was trusting; and though I can hardly now tell how it was effected, I found myself the next instant on the grass without the walls, supported by the brother of the lamented Clarice.

"One moment, lady," he said, "for taking breath, and then we must away;" and giving me his arm, while he grasped my hand, he dragged me on through bushes, brambles, and high grass, while every step removed us farther from the gloomy prison from which we had escaped. As to speaking, I had not breath for it; but he, who had been more accustomed to active life than I had been, was by no means so overpowered as I was. Unfortunately," he said, we have the water-course between us and the rendezvous of our friends; but there is a plank thrown over the torrent somewhat above, by which we must pass; in the mean time, we must keep in the shade of the bushes until we have crossed the water, lest we should be pursued. Should they discover the way by which we escaped, they will follow us, without question. But take courage, and, with the Divine help, we shall be out of their reach in a few minutes."

Thus he comforted me, as he dragged me forward, giving me no time to look back, till we arrived at some little distance from the convent, at a place where a narrow plank was thrown over the water-course, and on the eastern side of the fir-crowned hill, which I have spoken of as being seen from my cell. The path which we had traversed was shaded with brambles and low bushes, and as it lay somewhat under the course of the brook, was so swampy as to soak my shoes: but these were minor evils, and I did not heed them; all my terror was of the pursuit of the bailiff or any of his people. The hill was green, and open on the other side of the rude bridge, and, a little way above this bridge, on the hill side, was a chapel of the Virgin, with an altar and image. This had originally been a beautiful little edifice, in the style of the florid Gothic, but it had been suffered of late years to fall into ruin, and to exhibit many manifestations of rapid decay.

The door of this chapel stood open, as we perceived when ascending the bank from where we had crossed the brook. We were not aware that there was any thing extraordinary in this appearance; indeed, we thought nothing of it, and were hastening past the chapel, when we were startled by the sound of a voice as from the other side of the bridge, but lower down the valley. We could not distinguish what was said; but as we dreaded lest our figures might attract attention if we ventured forward over the hill at that critical moment, in which the moon happened to be shining forth in full splendour, we turned into the chapel, intending to wait there until the clouds should pass over the disk of the planet. Was this disposition of the clouds at that moment the effect of accident? Is there any thing throughout the universe which befalls by chance? "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and yet not one of them shall fall to the ground without your heavenly Father."

My companion and I did not speak one word as we stood in this extraordinary situation. We were listening with deep attention to every sound; but there was a dread stillness, nor did there even proceed a murmur from the convent. It appeared afterward that the raging mob were at that crisis examining the dungeons and subterraneous chapel; and hence their clamours were deadened to those above the earth. The wind moaning in the fir-trees which crowned the hill; the