But not ready for a sacrifice like
this--not ready for this."
"You have doomed him!"
"Be it so, sir. Be it so. Let me now call my father."
"Yet think, ere it be too late--once gone, not even your words shall
call me back."
"Believe me, I shall not desire it."
The firmness of the maiden was finely contrasted with the disappointment
of the outlaw. He was not less mortified with his own defeat than awed
by the calm and immoveable bearing, the sweet, even dignity, which the
discussion of a subject so trying to her heart, and the overthrow of all
hope which her own decision must have occasioned, had failed utterly to
affect. He would have renewed his suggestions, but while repeating them,
a sudden commotion in the village--the trampling of feet--the buzz of
many voices, and sounds of wide-spread confusion, contributed to abridge
an interview already quite too long. The outlaw rushed out of the
apartment, barely recognising, at his departure, the presence of Colonel
Colleton, whom his daughter had now called in.
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