with faltering steps the place where his daughter reclined. At the
instant that he took her hand, Lucy began to revive; and the first
action, in the bewildered unconsciousness of awaking, was to throw her
arm around the neck of her supporter.

Could all the hours and realities of hope, joy, pleasure, in Clifford's
previous life have been melted down and concentrated into a single
emotion, that emotion would have been but tame to the rapture of Lucy's
momentary and innocent caress! And at a later yet no distant period,
when in the felon's cell the grim visage of Death scowled upon him, it
may be questioned whether his thoughts dwelt not far more often on the
remembrance of that delightful moment than on the bitterness and ignominy
of an approaching doom.

"She breathes,--she moves,--she wakes!" cried the father; and Lucy,
attempting to rise, and recognizing the squire's voice, said faintly,--

"Thank God, my dear father, you are not hurt! And are they really gone?
--and where--where are we?"

The squire, relieving Clifford of his charge, folded his child in his
arms, while in his own elucidatory manner he informed her where she was,
and with whom. The lovers stood face to face to each other; but what
delicious blushes did the night, which concealed all but the outline of
their forms, hide from the eyes of Clifford!

The honest and kind heart of Mr. Brandon was glad of a release to the
indulgent sentiments it had always cherished towards the suspected and
maligned Clifford, and turning now from Lucy, it fairly poured itself
forth upon her deliverer. He grasped him warmly by the hand, and