f harm to him?"

"Girl! foolish, mad, self-willed girl!" exclaimed Lindsay, disengaging
himself from his daughter, and rising from his seat and angrily striding
a few paces upon the terrace. "Dare you show this contumacy to me! No, I
did not mean that--have you the heart, Mildred, to indulge these
passionate fervors for the man I hate more than I can hate any other
living thing! He, a wretch, upon whose head I invoke nightly curses! A
loathsome, abhorred image to my mind! Hear me, Mildred, and hear me,
though your heart break while I utter it--May the felon's death whelm
him and his name in eternal disgrace!--may his present captivity be
beset with all the horrors of friendlessness, unpitied--"

"His captivity, father! And has he then fallen into the hands of the
enemy? Quick! tell me all!--I shall die--my life is wrapped up in his!"
ejaculated Mildred, in agony, as she sprang towards her father and
seized his arm, and then sank at his feet.

"For God's sake, my child!" said Lindsay, becoming alarmed at the
violence of the paroxysm he had excited, and now lifting his daughter
from the ground. "Mildred!--speak, girl! This emotion will drive me mad.
Oh, fate, fate!--how unerringly dost thou fulfil the sad predictions of
my spirit! How darkly does the curse hang upon my household! Mildred,
dear daughter, pardon my rash speech. I would not harm thee, child--no,
not for worlds!"

"Father, you have cruelly tortured my soul," said Mildred, reviving from
the half lifeless state into which she had fallen, and which for some
moments had denied her speech. "Tell me all; on my knees, father, I
implore you."

"It was a hasty word, daughter," replied Lindsay, ill concealing the
perturbation of his feelings; "I meant not what I said."

"Nay, dear father," said Mildred, "I am prepared to hear the worst; you
spoke of Arthur's captivity."

"It was only a rumor," replied Lindsay, struck with apprehension at his
daughter's earnestness, and now seeking to allay the feeling his hint
had aroused in her mind; "it may be exaggerated by Tyrrel, whose letter,
hastily written, mentions the fact, that Butler had been made a prisoner
by some bands of Tories, amongst whom he had rashly ventured. The
clemency of his king may yet win him back to his allegiance. A salutary
confinement, at least, will deprive him of the power of mischief. His
lands will be confiscated--and the close of the war, now fast
approaching, will find him a houseless adve