Ratcliffe, or you mean to insult my misery by an
ill-timed jest!"
"I am as much in my senses, young lady," answered her adviser, "as you
are; and I am no idle jester, far less with misery, least of all with
your misery. I swear to you that this being (who is other far than
what he seems) actually possesses the means of redeeming you from this
hateful union."
"And of insuring my father's safety?"
"Yes! even that," said Ratcliffe, "if you plead his cause with him--yet
how to obtain admittance to the Recluse!"
"Fear not that," said Miss Vere, suddenly recollecting the incident
of the rose; "I remember he desired me to call upon him for aid in
my extremity, and gave me this flower as a token. Ere it faded away
entirely, I would need, he said, his assistance: is it possible his
words can have been aught but the ravings of insanity?"
"Doubt it not fear it not--but above all," said Ratcliffe, "let us lose
no time--are you at liberty, and unwatched?"
"I believe so," said Isabella: "but what would you have me to do?"
"Leave the castle instantly," said Ratcliffe, "and throw yourself at the
feet of this extraordinary man, who in circumstances that seem to argue
the extremity of the most contemptible poverty, possesses yet an almost
absolute influence over your fate.
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