ve him a warning, if you
see him, Wilton."
"Here is the lady, sir," said Plessis, entering, and addressing
Wilton. "I will go down stairs and see that all is safe below."
"He will not let the man out of the cellar?" demanded Wilton, as
Plessis departed.
"I have taken care of that," replied the Captain, holding up a key;
"but let us not lose time."
While these few words were passing, Lady Helen and Laura entered, the
latter, pale, agitated, and trembling, less with actual apprehension
than from all she had lately undergone. At that moment, she knew not
with whom she was going, or what was the manner of escape proposed.
All that the Lady Helen had told her was, that somebody had come to
set her free, and that she must instantly prepare to depart. She had
paused but for an instant, while the lady who brought her these glad
tidings wrapped round her some of the garments which had been
procured for her journey to France, by those who had carried her off;
and all the agitation consequent upon a sudden revival of hopes that
had been well nigh extinguished was still busy in her bosom, when, as
we have said, she entered the room.
The first object, however, which her eye fell upon was the fine
commanding form of Wilton Brown. It were scarcely fair to ask
whether, in the long and weary hours of captivity, she had thought
much of him. But one thing at least may be told, that with him, and
with a hurried and timid examination of the feelings of her own bosom
regarding him, her thoughts had been busied at the very moment when
she had been dragged away from her own home. The sight of him,
however, now, was both joyful and overpowering to her; the very idea
of deliverance had been sufficient to agitate her, so that she shook
in every limb as she entered the room; but when she saw in her
deliverer the man whom, of all others, she would have chosen to
protect her, manifold emotions, of a still more agitating kind, were
added to all the rest. But joy--joy and increased hope--overcame all
other feelings, and stretching out her hands towards him, she ran
forward as he advanced to meet her, and clung with a look of deep
confidence and gladness to his arm.
"Do not be frightened, do not be agitated," he said--"all will go
quite well. Are you prepared to quit this place immediately?"
"Oh yes, yes, instantly!" she cried; but then her eyes turned upon
Lord Sherbrooke, and the sight of him in company with Wilton seemed
to cloud her happiness; for though she still looked up t