Making another effort, she
sprang from his grasp; but the tree was rent from its hold, and she fell
with it to the edge of the precipice. Ere the Silver Knight could
interpose, a faint shriek announced her descent: a swift crash was heard
amongst the boughs and underwood--a groan and a rebound. He saw her
disappear behind a crag. Then came one thrilling moment of terror, one
brief pause in that death-like stillness, and a heavy plunge was heard
in the gulf below! He listened--his perceptions grew more acute--eye and
ear so painfully susceptible, and their sensibility so keen, that the
mind scarcely distinguished its own reactions from realities--from
outward impressions on the sense. He thought he heard the gurgle and
the death-throe. Then the pale face of the maiden seemed to spring out
from the abyss. He rushed down the precipice. Entangled in the copsewood
and bushes, some time elapsed ere he gained the narrow path below. He
soon found, as in most other situations, the shortest road the
longest--that the beaten track would have brought him quicker to his
destination; but these nice calculations were forgotten.
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