that of a guardian towards
his ward should be.'

I dared not withhold my consent.

'And,' he continued, 'I trust that you have not found me harsh or
unjust, and that you have perceived, my dear niece, that I have sought
to make this poor place as agreeable to you as may be.'

I assented again; and he put his hand in his pocket, whence he drew a
folded paper, and dashing it upon the table with startling emphasis, he
said:

'Did you write that letter?'

The sudden and tearful alteration of his voice, manner, and face, but,
more than all, the unexpected production of my letter to Mr. Jefferies,
which I at once recognised, so confounded and terrified me, that I felt
almost choking.

I could not utter a word.

'Did you write that letter?' he repeated with slow and intense
emphasis.' You did, liar and hypocrite! You dared to write this foul and
infamous libel; but it shall be your last. Men will universally believe
you mad, if I choose to call for an inquiry. I can make you appear
so. The suspicions expressed in this letter are the hallucinations and
alarms of moping lunacy. I have defeated your first attempt, madam; and
by the holy God, if ever you make another, chains, straw, darkness, and
the keeper's whip shall be your lasting portion!'

With these astounding words he left the room, leaving me almost
fainting.

I was now almost reduced to despair; my last cast had failed; I had no
course left but that of eloping secretly from the castle, and placing
myself under the protection of the nearest magistrate. I felt if this
were not done, and speedily, that I should be MURDERED.

No one, from mere description, can have an idea of the unmitigated
horror of my situation--a helpless, weak, inexperienced girl, placed
under the power and wholly at the mercy of evil men, and feeling that
she had it not in her power to escape for a moment from the malignant
influences under which she was probably fated to fall; and with a
consciousness that if violence, if murder were designed, her dying
shriek would be lost in void space; no human being would be near to aid
her, no human interposition could deliver her.

I had seen Edward but once during his visit, and as I did not meet with
him again, I began to think that he must have taken his departure--a
conviction which was to a certain degree satisfactory, as I regarded his
absence as indicating the removal of immediate danger.

Emily also arrived circuitously at the same concl