any expression, fixed upon him in mechanical watchfulness of any attempt at an escape.
Francesca leant, pale and breathless, against the chair, looking on the scene before her with that fascinated gaze which marks the progress of the dreaded evil it has become utterly hopeless to avert. The two enemies confronted each other, Johnstone's rigid features working with a slight convulsion, and his large grey eyes gleaming with that lurid light ever associated with insanity; and assuredly with him the incessant dwelling on one thought had had its usual effect of unsettling the mind which undergoes that perilous trial. Vengeance had been the sole object of his existence; it was now about to be gratified—and the emotion of such a joy is awful as death. The young cavalier looked the most indifferent of the two; his arms were folded, as if the attitude were only studied on account of its grace; the eye wandered carelessly round; and a scornful, or what is best expressed by the common word audacious, smile curved his lip. The republican officer felt his anger goaded by the insolence of his careless adversary. This time there was no recommendation to think of that God into whose presence the prisoner was so soon about to enter. His lip trembled, a slight spasm distorted his
