escape. Come with me to my room; we will remain there till the hour agreed
upon." They went. Idris, panic-struck, but animated and strengthened even
by her excessive fear, dressed herself hurriedly, and going down a flight
of back-stairs, avoiding the vicinity of her mother's apartment, she
contrived to escape from the castle by a low window, and came through snow,
wind, and obscurity to my cottage; nor lost her courage, until she arrived,
and, depositing her fate in my hands, gave herself up to the desperation
and weariness that overwhelmed her.

I comforted her as well as I might. Joy and exultation, were mine, to
possess, and to save her. Yet not to excite fresh agitation in her, "per
non turbar quel bel viso sereno," I curbed my delight. I strove to quiet
the eager dancing of my heart; I turned from her my eyes, beaming with too
much tenderness, and proudly, to dark night, and the inclement atmosphere,
murmured the expressions of my transport. We reached London, methought, all
too soon; and yet I could not regret our speedy arrival, when I witnessed
the extasy with which my beloved girl found herself in her brother's arms,
safe from every evil, under his unblamed protection.

Adrian wrote a brief note to his mother, informing her that Idris was under
his care and guardianship. Several days elapsed, and at last an answer
came, dated from Cologne. "It was useless," the haughty and disappointed
lady wrote, "for the Earl of Windsor and his sister to address again the
injured parent, whose only expectation of tranquillity must be derived from
oblivion of their existence. Her desires had been blasted, her schemes
overthrown. She did not complain; in her brother's court she would find,
not compensation for their disobedience (filial unkindness admitted of
none), but such a state of things and mode of life, as might best reconcile
her to her fate. Under such circumstances, she positively declined any
communication with them."