“In that delicacy which was breathed into him by his love, he had forborne to seek, or to offer her the insult of, consolation.
“He felt that the shock should be borne alone, and yet he pined, he thirsted, to throw himself at her feet.
“Nursing these contending thoughts, he was aroused by a knock at his door.
“He opened it.
“The passage was thronged by Leoline’s maidens—pale, anxious, weeping.
“Leoline had left the castle, but with one female attendant, none know whither.
“They knew too soon.
“From the hall of Warbeck Castle she had passed over in the dark and inclement night, to the valley in which the convent offered to the weary of spirit and the broken of heart, a refuge.
“At daybreak, the next morning, Lord Edward Warbeck was at the convent gate.
“He saw Leoline.