1829.] a Tale of the Reign of Mary. 381 



" It is too late !" he at length exclaimed, starting from his trance, 

 " too late for aught but confession of my infamy ; though I can tell thee 

 little, Esther," he added with a bitter smile, " which I have not taught 

 thee long ago, by many a cruel lesson. Were I to ^ay I am a villain, 

 what then ? Thou hasl; known too long, by sad experience, that I have 

 been the worst of villains to thee and my poor boJ^" 



" Speak not of what is past," said the devoted woman ; " we are all 

 prone to err. Repentance never blossoms too late." 



" In my heart," replied her husband, " its buds, I fear, must wither 

 in the grave. Flight, immediate secret flight, offers my only chance of 

 safety ; and without money, this last hope must fail me." 



" Alas ! what hath befallen you ?" exclaimed the wretched woman, 

 bi-eathless with terror and agitation, " tell all, in mercy tell me all." 



" There was a time," continued Wharncliff, " when I would not thus 

 have humbled myself to thee ; but henceforth I have nothing to do with 

 pride. I am a thing for pity and for scorn, and must begin to learn 

 humility. Extravagance has long made me a beggar. This you have 

 knoAvn. I gambled deeply, desjierately — this too, you knew. But even 

 when driven to madness and despair by my losses, I cared little for 

 scorn, or reproach : I was still an honoui'able man. INIonth after month, 

 when all was gone, I lived on the chance successes of the hour. Ill luck 

 pursued me ; for nights I had not where to lay my head ; for days I 

 scarcely tasted food, and in a moment of desperation, I resigned even 

 this poor consolation. I was starving, nay, I was mad, and with mjr own 

 hand I signed the death-warrant of my fame amongst men. — I forged. 

 The cheat is discovered, and the officers of justice are even now in pur- 

 suit of me. Hark !" he exclaimed, suddenly checking himself, and 

 listening, with feelings of maddening intensity, to a noise in a distant 

 part of the building, " the blood-hounds have tracked my course ; but 

 though they may lap my blood, the spirit shall escape from them." 



His lips Avere convidsed — his matted and dishevelled hair gave 

 additional wildness to his sunken eye, as it glared fearfully around him, 

 and the dews of death seemed already to rest on his furrowed and con- 

 tracted brow. Esther gazed for a moment with speechless terror on her 

 husband, as he laid his hand on the hilt of a dagger, and partly drew it 

 from his bosom. But it was only for a moment, and then springing 

 wildly forward, she seized the hand which held the fatal weapon, and 

 exclaimed, " For mercy sake, Walter, rush not on eternity. Suffer 

 meekly, even though thy crimes may draw down judgment on thy head. 

 But listen," she continued, with more composure, " all is still ! For a 

 time, at least, you are in safety here : few know my abode, and fewer 

 still that I am your wife. When the morning dawns, I will go into the 

 city, and find a purchaser for that sacred volume, and whatever else I 

 can collect, and then, whithersoever you fly, there will your child and I 

 be your companions." 



" Impossible, Esther," replied Wharncliff", actuated by a more selfish 

 feeling than he chose to confess ; " we never meet again. Henceforth 

 you must forget you ever called me husband ; for though the bitterest 

 pang I shall know in my exile will be the sense of your destitution, you 

 must not sliare my infamy." 



" Will you leave your child to perish ?" eagerly demanded Esther. 



" Cliance will raise up friends to him when I am gone," rej)lied Wal- 

 ter, composedly, his habitual selfishness and indifference having already 



