wished you none, Heaven be my pledge! Go, since you think so basely of me-but go safely. Wrap well your cloak over those hateful tokens a hundred deaths await their discovery in these walls!" "I neither court nor shun death," replied Vrank, moved by her generous anxiety for his safety," though life gains no new value from this scene." While he replaced his cap on his head, and flung his cloak across his breast and shoulders, retiring towards the garden the while, Jacqueline felt a new flood of gentle feelings rush within her breast. The fine countenance of the young man, which the dim twilight shewed with a softened effect, spoke a volume of deep feelings. His magnanimity of character seemed all at once revealed without an effort on his part, and acknowledged without one qualifying doubt on hers. The effect was irresistible. Hurt pride, wounded dignity, offended virtue, all gave way to the powerful influence of unbounded love; and Jacqueline was on the point of following the impulse that once more urged her towards him, who was in every true essential her lover, when she was interrupted and shocked by the sudden inburst of several armed men, who rushed from the garden; and before Vrank could even throw aside his cloak to grasp his weapon's hilt, he was forcibly seized and violently held captive, in the grasp of half-a-dozen sinewy hands. END OF VOL. II. LONDON: HENRY BAYLIS, JOHNSON'S-COURT, FLEET-STREET. |