"Speak not thus--not of this, Ralph, if you would not have me perish. I
am fearfully sick now, my head swims, and all is commotion at my heart.
Not water--not water--give me hope--consolation. Tell me that there is
still some chance--some little prospect--that some noble people are
striving in your cause--that somebody is gone in search of evidence--in
search of hope. Is there no circumstance which may avail? Said you not
something of--did you not tell me of a person who could say for you that
which would have done much towards your escape? A woman, was it
not--speak, who is she--let me go to her--she will not refuse to tell me
all, and do all, if she be a woman."
Ralph assured her in the gentlest manner of the hopelessness of any such
application; and the momentary dream which her own desires had conjured
into a promise, as suddenly subsided, leaving her to a full
consciousness of her desolation. Her father at length found it necessary
to abridge the interview. Every moment of its protraction seemed still
more to unsettle the understanding of his daughter.
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