expose you to more danger, believe me, than you will encounter here.-Be wise, choose the least evil that may befal you take the only alternative that remains; -resignation to the will of a Power, superior to that which reposes in the hearts of men, whose hands fall nerveless at his command! decide, lady, and let us instantly begone.' "To which the Duchess after a pause replied ; "I know not who you are, or what you are, but there is something in your manner, Sir, which assures me that I may rely on your protection; and if indeed it be the will of Heaven that I should thus suffer, and thus be wronged-I will cease to murmur, but endeavour, for the sake of this innocent babe, to bear with the unjust wrongs which have fallen on the devoted head of its unfortunate mother. Permit my attendant to follow whither you are conducting me, and I shall ask no greater favour.' "Assuredly, madam,' cried Captain Singleton, and without another sentence being exchanged by either of the party, the Duchess suffered him quietly to place her and her attendant in our boat, to which the men had already removed the chests, and, he stationing himself close at her side, I gave instant orders, in an under tone, to bear away for the mouldering ruins of the old Abbey, in a state of mind bordering on distraction; the unfailing accompaniment of a consciousness of having committed actions that will not bear the test of reflection." હું CHAPTER XXXIII. Hear what Highland Nora said:- I would not wed the Earlie's son!" "IT was not, lady," continued Paulo, “that I endured any apprehension on my own account, or on that of my confederates; for I well knew we should never be betrayed by any reports given of the seizure we had made on the young and lovely Duchess of Braganza, since there was not a doubt but the very boatman who had conveyed her to the cliff had been considerably bribed for the passive obedience he had shown in the whole of this treacherous and nefarious transaction. This man, having beheld his lovely burthen safely bestowed along-side of us, rowed off with all imaginable speed, as by no means wishing to impede or throw the slightest obstacle in our way to prevent the execution of this daring design: and we had still less to fear from Captain Singleton's companion in the opposite boat, who, happening to be a mere youth, very quietly sheered off the moment that his boat was rid of his passenger, not caring who or what the altercation had been about, so long as he was paid for his fare. He was but little anxious about the distressed females, whom the devil himself might have run away with, if he pleased. No, Lady! it was not the sensation of fear that agitated my burning breast, when, arriving at the old Abbey, Captain Singleton (delivering up the Duchess, her child, and attendant to the care of Marinetta and my mother, with strict charge to pay them every kindness and attention,) fiercely demanded to know of me the actual situation of my beauteous captive, and for what purpose she was to be detained in the Abbey as my prisoner? "Paulo Michello,' said he, in a yet sterner accent than he had hitherto used to me, C use no dissimulation with one who will not brook it, and who has never dissembled towards you;-perhaps, even has gone a step beyond prudence in revealing to you the whole of his concerns. Tell me why you have conducted this lady and her infant child to this solitary spot, amidst the band of your lawless and licentious companions? You say, indeed, it was contrary to your inclination, and that you acted on compulsion: what compulsion, let me ask, nay demand, induces you to act with violence towards a helpless woman, whose very looks might plead her innocence, and teach the hearts of the most savage among your crew to melt with gentle pity? Paulo Michello, I have hitherto been your friend! your adviser! your instructor!-beware how you make me your enemy:-for I am an avowed enemy to that man, although he were my dearest brother, who would injure the defenceless sex which he was ordained by laws both human and divine to protect!' "It is true, Sir, that I owe you gratitude,' answered I, much stung by his reproach; but compel me not to remember that you also owe some to me. Your life was preserved, through my immediate means, from falling into the hands of your enemies. It is now your turn to preserve mine! which, without this lady and that infant being held my captives, will be delivered up into the hands of justice. One of the men has proved a miscreant, and has betrayed me into the power of the Dowager Duchess of Braganza, That lovely creature whom we have brought to the old Abbey is the wife of her son, the young Duke Orlando, and the child (their only one) is the infant heiress of his illustrious house. It was the pious wish of the grandmother to have exterminated the mortal race of both the mother and the child on this very appointed evening, and I was employed for the purpose of accomplishing this most execrable deed! Yes, I tremble while I pronounce it, that it was intended the boat should have been upset beneath the cliff, and that Agatha and her infant daughter should have floated on the waves!' "And had you the cruelty to make such conditions with this most execrable monster of a woman?' demanded Captain Singleton. 'Paulo Michello, I will not suppose it possible that on any terms you would romise to ex cute so horrible a deed.' 666 No, Sir, I was not so inhuman,' answered I, I made a clause by which I did not strictly ind myself, or any other, to the accomplishment of this infernal purpose.' "And yet, if I mistake not,' cried Captain Singleton, turning on me a stern and inquiring eye, on my nearly coming in contact with your boat, when the cries of that lovely angel pierced every heart save yours alone! then, Paulo Michello, if I mistake not, it was at this fearful moment I heard you give orders to Dick Wildfire to swamp the boat, which must inevitably have endangered the existence of every human being in it.' "Believe me, Sir,' uttered I, it was merely an expedient to force the Duchess to compliance, nothing more. I swear by heaven, her life and that of the infant I would have preserved at the peril of my own. For the wealth of worlds I would not touch that infant with a hand of harm." "You must henceforth prove that assertion by a stronger testimony than mere words,' cried Captain Singleton; for neither the mother nor the child will henceforth be under your control. I mean not to betray you, Paulo, or expose your life to danger, or the lives of your confederates; far be it from me to hazard the existence of my preserver! but you cannot expect that I shall tamely witness the wrongs of a lovely helpless injured woman, without offering her both protection and redress, which she will never be able to obtain in this country. It has, or will, no doubt, be represented to the Duke by his base unworthy mother, that his wife and child are dead.' "Restoring them to him, my death will be certain,' uttered I; and the lives also of my confederates be sacrificed to his revenge.' "In all human probability, such would be a natural consequence, were the transaction once revealed |