"
Saying this he approached the bed: a spring was concealed in one of the
posts communicating with the secret door behind which Tyrone was hidden.
As he turned aside the drapery to ascertain precisely its situation,
Constance, no longer able to control her apprehension of discovery,
rushed before him. Her terror, for the time, threw her completely from
her guard.
"Do not, my father:--he must not look there. For my sake, oh, spare
_this_"----
She was silent:--her lips grew deadly pale; and she leaned against the
pillar for support. The officer's suspicions were awakened, and he gave
a shrewd guess at the truth.
"Now, fair dame," he cried: "it is but an ungracious office to thwart a
lady of her will, but I must see what lurks in that same secret recess.
Master Holt, I prythee help me to a peep behind the curtain."
But Holt was too much astonished to comply. What could exist there to
excite his daughter's apprehensions so powerfully, puzzled him greatly.
He had not a thought, the most remote, that could affect her
fidelity;--yet he hesitated. The officer, in a more peremptory tone,
demanded admission.
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