To you I shall
be dead ere I am actually in my grave, and you will think of me as of a
friend disencumbered from the toils and crimes of existence."
He kissed Isabella on the forehead, impressed another kiss on the
brow of the statue by which she knelt, and left the chapel followed by
Ratcliffe. Isabella, almost exhausted by the emotions of the day,
was carried to her apartment by her women. Most of the other guests
dispersed, after having separately endeavoured to impress on all who
would listen to them their disapprobation of the plots formed against
the government, or their regret for having engaged in them. Hobbie
Elliot assumed the command of the castle for the night, and mounted a
regular guard. He boasted not a little of the alacrity with which his
friends and he had obeyed a hasty summons received from Elshie through
the faithful Ratcliffe. And it was a lucky chance, he said, that on that
very day they had got notice that Westburnflat did not intend to
keep his tryste at Castleton, but to hold them at defiance; so that a
considerable party had assembled at the Heugh-foot, with the intention
of paying a visit to the robber's tower on the ensuing morning, and
their course was easily directed to Ellieslaw Castle.
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