It was, under all the circumstances, a curious survey for the youth. He
was a man of high passions, sudden of action, impetuous and
unhesitating. In a fair field, he would not have been at a loss for a
single moment; but here, the situation was so new, that he was more and
more undetermined in his spirit. He saw them commissioned with his
murder--treading, one by one, the several steps below him--approaching
momently higher and higher--and his heart beat audibly with conflicting
emotions; while with one hand he grasped convulsively and desperately
the handle of his dirk, the other being fully employed in sustaining the
almost fainting form of his high-souled but delicate companion. He felt
that, if discovered, he could do little in his defence and against
assault; and though without a thought but that of fierce struggle to the
last, his reason taught him to perceive with how little hope of success.
As the assassins continued to advance, he could distinctly trace every
change of expression in their several countenances.
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