there existed between the two? Alas! how the distinctions least to be
analyzed are ever the sternest! What lofty ease in that high-bred
air; what histories of triumph seemed to speak in that quiet eye,
sleeping in its own imperious lustre; what magic of command in that
pale brow; what spells of persuasion in that artful lip! Alwyn
muttered to himself, bowed his head involuntarily, and passed on at
once from Hastings to Sibyll, who now, at the distance of some yards,
had arrested her steps, in surprise to see the conference between the
nobleman and the burgher.

But as he approached Sibyll, poor Alwyn felt all the firmness and
courage he had exhibited with Hastings melt away. And the trepidation
which a fearful but deep affection ever occasions in men of his
character, made his movements more than usually constrained and
awkward, as he cowered beneath the looks of the maid he so truly
loved.

"Seekest thou me, Master Alwyn?" asked Sibyll, gently, seeing that,
though he paused by her side, he spoke not.

"I do," returned Alwyn, abruptly, and again he was silent. At length,
lifting his eyes and looking round him, he saw Hastings at the
distance, leaning against the rampart, with folded arms; and the
contrast of his rival's cold and arrogant indifference, and his own
burning veins and bleeding heart, roused up his manly spirit, and gave
to his tongue the eloquence which emotion gains when it once breaks
the fetters it forges for itself.

"Look, look, Sibyll!" he said, pointing to Hastings "look! that man
you believe loves you. If so--if he loved thee,--would he stand