Alice
shrieked; she attempted to throw herself between them and their foe, but
was too far off to accomplish her purpose. His arm was too sure, and his
stroke too sudden. But ere the steel could pierce his victims it was
arrested. He looked round, and a female figure, loosely enveloped in a
dark cloak, had rescued them from death. It was the same form that had
before interposed between them and the fangs of their remorseless enemy.
Loosened by the sudden spring, her garment flew aside. Hildebrand gazed
silently, but with a look of horror, too wild and intense to be
portrayed. He seemed to recognise the intruder--his lips moved rapidly
while he spoke.
"Thee!--whom the waves had swallowed! Have the waters given up their
dead?"--he faintly exclaimed, almost gasping for utterance.
"Monster! canst thou look upon this form," she cried, "and not wither at
the sight? But I have done," she meekly continued: "Heaven hath yet a
blessing for the innocent;--but thy cup of iniquity is full. Thy doom is
at hand. I have trusted Thee, O my Father; and I trust Thee still!"
It was the much injured and persecuted wife of Sir Henry Fairfax who now
stood before the abashed miscreant.
Pages:
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737