"
"Mr. Ratcliffe," said Isabella, "farewell; if you have deceived one so
unfortunate as myself, you have for ever forfeited the fair character
for probity and honour to which I have trusted."
"On my life--on my soul," continued Ratcliffe, raising his voice as the
distance between them increased, "you are safe--perfectly safe."
CHAPTER XVI.
--'Twas time and griefs
That framed him thus: Time, with his fairer hand,
Offering the fortunes of his former days,
The former man may make him.--Bring us to him,
And chance it as it may.--OLD PLAY.
The sounds of Ratcliffe's voice had died on Isabella's ear; but as she
frequently looked back, it was some encouragement to her to discern his
form now darkening in the gloom. Ere, however, she went much farther,
she lost the object in the increasing shade. The last glimmer of the
twilight placed her before the hut of the Solitary. She twice extended
her hand to the door, and twice she withdrew it; and when she did at
length make the effort, the knock did not equal in violence the throb of
her own bosom.
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