614 TKK SANCTUARY. 



there were other armed men, standing stealthily apart, when the 

 church-bell chimed. 



" Henri to sanctuary ! you are betrayed!" shrieked out Mary, 

 as she perceived the satellites of her rejected lover about to surround 

 their intended victim. At the sound of her voice the young merchant 

 turned round, and, at the instant, received a wound on his shoulder ; 

 a second, more deadly, would have followed, had not a female hand 

 arrested the blow. 



" Away, Henri !" again shrieked out the heroic girl, as she stood 

 between the combatants ; " the way to the church is yet open." 

 And Henri, who saw at a glance his peril, fled, and, lacerated and 

 bleeding, at length gained the porch. 



It was then that Mary, who had followed with a swift foot and a 

 beating heart, gave the first evidence of woman's feeling. An hys- 

 terical sob burst from her lips her eyes closed and she would have 

 fallen to the ground, had not one who with a demon's malice had 

 marked her daring, sprang forward and caught her in his arms. 

 But it was merely the body that had been exhausted the spirit was 

 yet awake ; and this contact with one, whom she never could have 

 loved, and whom, at this moment, she regarded with every feeling of 

 dislike of which her nature was susceptible, aroused her dormant 

 energies. She disengaged herself, and was turning, with a faltering 

 step, away, when Robert Halton's deep voice arrested her. 



" Mary Woodman ! why are you thus, at midnight, following the 

 steps of a felon ?" 



" My purpose is honest, Master Halton. Had your's been so, 

 Mary Woodman would not have been witnessing ruffian hirelings 

 besetting the stranger." 



" Your father would hardly call your purpose honest, Mistress 

 Mary," replied Halton, in a sarcastic tone. " Methinks it is enough 

 to put honesty to the blush to see a discreet maiden periling life 

 and good name for the robber who drops from her father's walls !" 



f( Robber !" repeated Mary, with indignation. ' ' Did yon not 

 basely secure the gate ?" 



" And what did he within that gate? and what did he within 

 your chamber ? and what said he as you lay upon his bosom ?" 

 fiercely interrogated Halton. 



" If you saw him in my chamber, you heard his words they were 

 not said in a whisper. Let me pass \" 



" I did hear his words and you shall hear mine. Did I not 

 swear to you, on the eve of the last blessed Christmas, that he for 

 whom I was rejected should, before six months, be branded as 

 a felon ! You laughed at me, and has it not come to pass ? And I 

 here swear again, that if the craven, who hugs himself in his 

 sanctuary, does leave unharmed the shores of England, he goes alone. 

 The air of Brittany shall never waft thy marriage-vow to Heaven 

 no smile of thine shall ever gladden his home !" 



He turned away, in the bitterness of his soul; and Mary, whose 

 steps were no longer impeded, fled tremblingly towards her home, 

 and regained her gar den- chamber in safety. 



