496 The White Spectre of Malinanza ; [MAY, 



which she had pointed out the chamber of her terrible kinsman. The 

 young chief perceived that her face was slightly turned towards the 

 upper wall, as if to divert her eye from the dizzying depths beneath her. 

 Alberto began to breathe freer as he marked the steadiness of her light 

 foot ; but his heart again throbbed with violence as he saw her reach the 

 end of the straight line of parapet, and prepare to mount it where it 

 stretched upwards to the higher portions of the dwelling. There he 

 beheld her crouch nay, almost prostrate herself, and cling with 

 her delicate hands to every slight projection in the walls which might 

 either afford her a protecting hold, or advance her progress. At length 

 she reached the height, and stood, like a pale phantom of the night, on 

 the first turret. It was of sexangular form ; and as Alberto beheld her 

 reach the first point, he could scarcely forbear a cry of terror. In the 

 dubious light it seemed, when she reached that angle, as if she were 

 about voluntarily to throw herself from her fearful elevation : but she 

 passed on, like the gliding and mysterious spirit of another world 

 sometimes lost in the recesses of the building sometimes reappearing 

 on its projections, until she at length neared the formidable place of her 

 destination. The knight now watched the lady with augmented anxiety, 

 not only because her fearful goal was in sight, but because the diminish- 

 ing light and increasing shadows on the lake forewarned him that the 

 moon was about to sink behind the castle, and leave its immense pile in 

 an obscurity which would effectually conceal every object from his view. 

 Portia at length disappeared in a recess of the edifice. Alberto strained 

 his vision : the moonlight continued to decrease : his heart throbbed 

 his head swam. Did something white reappear from the recess ? he 

 could not tell. The obscurity augmented ; and now the moon sinks 

 behind the vast building, and leaves its intricate varieties one shapeless 

 mass. Alberto flung himself on his knees, and, covering his face with 

 his hands, poured forth a fervent supplication for the safety of her he 

 loved. 



Meanwhile the maiden pursued her fearful way until she reached the 

 lower extremity of the dreaded turret. She marked the waning light : 

 it was ominous yet still she pressed forward. And now she gained the 

 parapet, which wound round to her dire guardian's chamber. This tur- 

 ret was of greater elevation than its architectural neighbours, and con- 

 siderably overhung the main wall of the building. It was now impos- 

 sible for the damsel to avert her eye from the awful depths beneath her. 

 She seemed to look down a dizzy and immeasurable precipice. She saw 

 the fast-darkening waters beneath her ; she heard, in the silence of 

 night, their mournful plashing against the grey rocks at her feet. Her 

 head began to swim her steps to falter. Darkness succeeded. A novice 

 in that fearful path must now have perished ; but Portia was not tread- 

 ing it for the first time in such an hour. She pressed her hand in fervent 

 but speechless supplication to Heaven. Her courage revived. She 

 turned another angle in the tower. A red light burst suddenly upon her 

 it shone over the maiden's white raiment, and lighted up every object 

 around her with a brilliancy that for a moment almost startled her, and 

 suggested the idea of inevitable detection. She pressed on ; she reached 

 the chamber the casement was open. 



Whatever slight sensations of fear Portia might have experienced in 

 threading her perilous path, they assumed the character of complete 

 indifference, or even pleasurable emotion, compared with those she felt 



