ar that by
all that is most holy!"

He did not look at Hilda as he said this, but his eyes were cast on
the floor, and he seemed rather like a man who was uttering a
resolution to himself than like one who was making a statement to
another. But Hilda showed no emotion that corresponded with his. Any
danger to Gualtier, even though she herself were implicated, had no
terrors for her, and could not make her heart throb faster by one
single pulsation. She had other things on her mind, which to her far
outweighed any considerations of personal danger. Personal danger,
indeed, instead of being dreaded, would now, in her present mood,
have been almost welcomed, so as to afford some distraction from the
torture of her thoughts. In the secret of her heart she more than
once wished and longed for some appalling calamity--something which
might have power to engage all her thoughts and all her mind. The
anguish of her heart, arising out of her love for Lord Chetwynde, had
grown so intolerable that any thing, even danger, even discovery,
even death itself, seemed welcome now.

It was this feeling which filled her as she went on to ask Gualtier
about the nature of the danger which he had escaped, wishing to know
what it might be, yet indifferent to it except so far as it might
prove to be a distraction to her cares.

When Gualtier last vanished from the scene he had sent the boy to his
lodging-house, with the agreement that he should meet him at eight
o'clock. The boy's visit and its results have already been narrated.

As for Gualtier, he was profoundly conscious all the while of the
possibility that a trap might be laid for him, and that, if this were
the case, the advent of his messenger would be seized upon by those
who might be in pursuit of him, so as to get on his track. The very
cautiousness which had caused him to seek out so carefully a proper
messenger, and instruct him in the part which he was to play, kept
him on the anxious look-out for the progress of events. From the time
that the boy left he stationed himself at the window of his room,
which commanded a view of the main entrance, and watched with the
closest scrutiny every one who came into the hotel. After a time he
thought that the supposed pursuers might come in by some other
entrance. With this fear he retreated into his bedroom, which also
looked out in front, and locked the door. He found another door here
which led into an adjoining room, which was occup