ful woman; but, alas, I knew not till now the powers of my own soul. Abhorrent of shame and dishonour, it tempts me to the most desperate deeds; if yours is indeed congenial, it surely understands me; assume a Roman courage, and save your wife, your spotless wife, from horrible pollution."-" So much I agonize at the idea," cried lord Leicester, that were these hands free, perhapsed I, "feeble as they are, alike are bound; yet surely despair will give me strength to loose them." The violent efforts I made at last broke the slight thong the villains had thought more than sufficient to confine one in my feeble state, and encouraged by my success, I sought lord Leicester. At the moment I restored his liberty, I half revived, while the sole use the tender Leicester could make of his arms, was to press me a thousand times to his swelled heart, which almost burst with anguish. I struggled against all the sad tenderness which throbbed at my own. "Oh, think no more of love," cried I, with increasing heroism; "it has given place to death-to worse than

"-" And mine too," add

death-rather imagine you hear this dungeon once more open."-" But can I lift that hand, which pledged itself for thy protection, against thy life, thy precious life ?” groaned he―" can I deface that angel form, which still illumes my soul through all these complicated horrors? And oh, our dear unborn! for whom we gladly suffered, can I-can I destroy it?"-"Think, think, my love," returned I, "that we have perhaps this only moment-had these wretches left any means of death in my own hands, do you imagine I would supplicate it from yours? Strangle me now, while darkness favours. Your wife demands of you this final proof of love and courage; hers will at least vie with it; no groan, no struggle, shall issue from a heart which then will return innocent to that dust from which it sprung, devoted alone to the adored husband with whose image it is doubly inhabited." -"Oh, matchless, matchless woman!" cried my lord, flooding my cheek with tears of generous anguish, "never, never can it be; my sinews relax to childhood; your unlooked-for fortitude totally

subdues mine, and melts my soul to woman's weakness.-Oh! thou who gavest me this angel, canst thou have abandoned her to brutality, and me to distraction ?"

A peal of thunder, which shook the ruins to their foundation, seemed to reprove his boldness. The livid lightning pervaded our dungeon through many a timeworn aperture. During every tremendous illumination I gazed awe-struck on the pallid face of my love, till suddenly glancing around, I gave a cry which startled even myself-glowing, gasping, transported, yet still unable to speak, I sunk before my lord, and clasping both his hands, alternately prest them to my heart, and lifted them, with mine, towards heaven. "What means my beloved?" exclaimed he, in almost equal surprise and agitation; "has pitying Providence deprived her of her senses ?"-" Ah no, it is God himself who has illumined them," faltered I at last; "what dungeon has man yet discovered the Almighty cannot: you have often heard, my love, of one communication

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from the Recess to the Abbey: closed up on the death of Mrs. Marlow, it was never opened after, nor was it known to that horrible villain, Williams; this dismal den contains it, and we tread on the only spot in the creation which could shelter us from the ruffians. In the corner on the right hand, covered with lumber, placed long since on purpose, you will find a trapdoor; if you have strength to raise it, strong fastenings will secure it on the other side, at least till we reach the Abbey. Oh thou," added I, devoutly raising my eyes, "who alone couldst preserve us, continue those flashes, more welcome than ever yet the sun was."

Impressed solely with the present danger, it was not till we had descended into the vaults, and fastened that blessed door between ourselves and the banditti, that either recollected what he might apprehend at the Abbey. Assured that none but an opulent owner could reside in a seat so splendid, we vainly racked imagination to discover its present possessor; yet persuaded even our worst enemies would rescue

us with pleasure from a peril so nearly connected with themselves, we were obliged to defy every other. The housekeeper's room, into which the passage led, was empty, yet scattered furniture, &c. indicated inhabitants. I hailed, with true devotion, that power who gave me once more to see the soft lustre of the moon, which on the subsiding of the storm diffused serenity. Retaining in his hand the bar (which had been one fastening of the Abbey entrance) as the only weapon in his power, lord Leicester followed my trembling steps; they turned intuitively to the apartment of Mrs. Marlow; ah that there I could have found her! I paused at the door of the antichamber, and my heart sickened with despondency-knowing that there was an immediate necessity for rousing and arming the whole family, yet convinced we must at first alarm them as preternatural beings, and afterwards, with the conviction that our escape introduced a danger to themselves, while ignorant whom we were going to appear before, well might the firmest heart tremble. Engrossed by these