"
"As the day dawns," said Cecilia, quickly, I shall send here, under the
pretence of conveying you food, my own woman----"
"There is no need of risking anything for my safety," interrupted
Griffith; "I hardly think we shall be detained, and if we are,
Barnstable is at hand with a force that would scatter these recruits to
the four winds of heaven."
"Ah! that would lead to bloodshed, and scenes of horror!" exclaimed
Cecilia.
"Listen!" cried Katherine, "they approach again!"
A man now stopped, once more, at their door, which was opened softly,
and the face of the sentinel was thrust into the apartment.
"Captain Borroughcliffe is on his rounds, and for fifty of your guineas
I would not leave you here another minute."
"But one word more," said Cecilia.
"Not a syllable, my lady, for my life," returned the man; "the lady from
the next room waits for you, and in mercy to a poor fellow go back where
you came from."
The appeal was unanswerable, and they complied, Cecilia saying, as they
left the room:
"I shall send you food in the morning, young man, and directions how to
take the remedy necessary to your safety."
In the passage they found Alice Dunscombe, with her face concealed in
her mantle; and, it would seem, by the heavy sighs that escaped from
her, deeply agitated by the interview which she had just encountered.
But as the reader may have some curiosity to know what occurred to
distress this unoffending lady so sensibly, we shall detain the
narrative, to relate the substance of that which passed between her and
the individual whom she sought.
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