150 THE PAR’l'ISAN• . .“ Oh, wl1y——why,” be said, in a burst of passionate emotion, as he hurried below—“ wherefore, great Father of Mercies, wherefore. is this doom? `Why should the good andthe beautiful so early perish-—-why should they perish at all L Sad, sad, that the creature so made to love and bebelovsd, should have lived in affliction, and died without having the feelings once ex- ercised, which in it have been so sweet and innocent. Even death is beautiful and soft, seen in her, e em and gathering in words that come from her lips like the dropping of so much music from heaven. Poor Emily !” · ' , CHAPTER. XII. . " The time is come; thy chances of escape I , Grow narrow, and thou·hast, to save thyself, . But one resolve. Take oath with us and live." Cononm. Wnxrorz, upon the departure of his guests, . retired to an inner apartment. His spirits, depressed enough before, were now. considerably more so. Min- gled feelings were at strife in his bosom—doubts and fears, hopes and misgivings-a sense of degradation —a more unpleasant consciousness of shame._ The diiliculties of his situation grew and gathered before his eyes the more he surveyed them; they called for deliberate thought, yet they also demanded early and seasonable determination. The time allowed him for decision by the ruling powers was brief, and the mat- ter to be decided involved, in addition to the personal risks of life and liberty, the probable forfeiture of an immense estate, and the beggary, in consequence, of an only and beloved daughter. To save these, in part, from what he conceived otherwise to be inevitable ruin, he had originally laid aside his arms. He was now taught, in the strongest lights, the error of which he had been guilty in yielding so readily to circum-
