‘Deliver him up to the Vigilance Committee,’ replied Alice.
‘How can he do so without getting himself into trouble?’
‘Oh, there is no doubt but that he will readily hit upon a plan,’ said Alice; ‘I dare say that he has already arranged that, without knowing anything of the late circumstance. Clear up, Miss, for depend upon it, your troubles are fast drawing to a close, and not many days will elapse ere you will be again restored to your friends.’
‘Alas,’ ejaculated Inez, tears gushing to her eyes, ‘perhaps I have no dear friends to receive me! Oh, how my poor heart chills at the thought.’
‘Pray, Miss,’ said Alice, ‘do not encourage fears which, after all, may prove unfounded. Great, no doubt, as has been the sufferings of Monteagle and your father, I firmly believe that they are still living, or Jenkins and the others would have heard of it.’
‘My unhappy lover may have been able to withstand the severity of his accumulated and unparalleled calamities,’ observed Inez, ‘but, my poor father; oh, well am I convinced that his mind must have now become a wreck, in which case, it would be a mercy if the Almighty should be pleased to take him to Himself. Poor grey-haired old man, fondest of parents, best of human beings, shall I ever again be enfolded to thy paternal bosom, with the conviction that thou art conscious it is thy poor persecuted daughter thou dost embrace?—Alas! I fear never!’
‘Oh, yes, Miss, you will,’ ejaculated Alice, energetically, ‘Heaven in its infinite mercy will not deny you such a blessing after the many afflictions you have so undeservedly undergone. Have you not every reason to place the firmest reliance upon its goodness, after the manner in which you have ever been preserved in the moment of the most imminent danger?’
‘Yes, my good girl,’ replied our heroine, drying her tears, ‘indeed I have, and it is ungrateful in me thus to give way to despair. But my mind is so continually tormented, that I scarcely know what I am saying.’
‘At any rate,’ observed her companion, ‘now that Blodget is made a prisoner you may rest yourself secure, and Jenkins, I dare say, will not be long before he returns; when you will speedily be made acquainted with intentions, which, as I have all along predicted, depend upon it, will be all in your favor.’
The ideas of Alice were too reasonable to be rejected by Inez, and she looked forward to the return of Jenkins with the greatest anxiety.